The Egg of Destiny
by Lightning of the West
Summary: A deadly war rages throughout the Pokemon world with many species being eradicated in the crossfire. To put a stop to the fighting once and for all a egg is created with the power of a legendary Pokemon to end the war for which ever side claims it first
1. Prologue

**A/N: OK, this is my first fanfic ever for fanfiction and hopefully will receive a warm welcome. I welcome any type of reviews even those of criticism that can help me better this story, as I'm still learning. So with further ado, ladies and gentlemen: Egg of Destiny **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon  
**

The night was dark, surrounded in a blanket of darkness that had seemingly enveloped the moon causing almost if you will a mini solar eclipse of its own. The surrounding area of woods caste in shadow by the moon rustled with the noise of an unexpected visitor as a large almost human like figure dashed through the tree tops with ninja like accuracy. The figure moved through the tree tops with the monkey like climbing skills of a mankey, and ninja stealth of a scyther.

The figure tall in height but medium sized in shaped suddenly came to a halt in the branches and crouched down to examined some object it help in its hands. As the clouds over head parted like a whirlpool in the sea, shining light glazed down to illuminate the surrounding tree tops to reveal the battered green body of the Pokémon grovyle. In its outstretched hands revealed the oval shape object of a white egg.

The grovyle taking a swift over view of his surroundings jumped down from the branches to land at the base of the tree exhausted, his breaths coming out in deep rasps for air. After managing to catch his breath the grovyle looked up to survey the grassy clearing he had come to rest in. The area lay almost deaf like with only the occasionally scurrying of various rattatas and pachirisus. But that wasn't what he was listening for at all.

He was a long way from being in a safe secure area no matter how peaceful this one may seem to appear and he knew it. The grovyle glanced down once again to look over the egg he had only mere hours ago stolen and vowed to protect with his life. To those viewing from an outside perspective, you would think there was nothing terribly special about this egg the grovyle seemed dedicated enough to guard with his own life with. And if you were the certain individual o think that you would be surely mistaken and what's more surprised to learn that egg held the survival of every Pokémon in its grasps.

The grovyle eyed the egg hard as if he could exactly see inside and muttered out loud. "I wonder what Pokémon you could be." At that exact moment a violent rustled from the tree tops alerted the grovyle to an incoming attack of poison needless. Earning an angry curse from himself the grovyle narrowly evaded the attack coming to a defensive stance safely shielding the egg from harm under his arm growling with anger to fire a barrage of bullets into the tree tops only to miss contact with nothing but leaves. Suddenly a sound of hysterical hissing filled the area make a small shiver run across the grovyle's spine. This was bad, very bad. For them to even send him out for him meant they were stopping at nothing to obtain the egg.

"Well," hissed the smug voice with a slight snicker. "If it isn't my dear old friend Kai once again sticking his blades in places where they can be snapped like a twig.''

Kai the grovyle stood his ground and with a slight grin called into the tree tops.

''Well what can I say Paikus, having the power of the legendaries stuffed into one little egg can certainly tempt a guy into making rash decisions.''

"Indeed," hissed the voice of the mystery Pokémon now known as Paikus."And you've certainly overstepped your boundaries this time taking something that a mere mortal Pokémon as yourself could never fathom to understand angering not only the resistance but my master as well."

Kai gave a shrug."Hey pissing people off is one of my specialties, if you want a more detailed view of my many skills I suggest you facebook me."

Paikus snickered at the comment. "Ah, yes I'd forgotten you've done dealings around humans Kai. The things they come up with are sadly pathetic as you are at finding a way to keep yourself alive longer attempting to distract me with your baffling."

"Now I wouldn't call it baffling," argued Kai slowly shifting his position to aim at the exact location the voice was echoing from.

"No, you'd call it your pathetic excuse at banter, but I've learned from your tricks over the years."

"Too bad," commented Kai almost at the position he wanted to be. "And here I thought I was being clever and cunning."

"Unfortunately you've been sentenced to a death that I'm only to happy to obliged to."

"Well, then why don't you come have a go then," challenged Kai locking on to Paikus voice. "Show me what you've... Got!" he shouted firing a well timed attack of bullet seed into the branches of a near by tree to his right. A surprised hissed and sound of seeds hitting living tissue assured Kai he had hit his mark.

Following up on his attack Kai sent up a storm of razor blades tearing through the tree tops cutting away their cover and revealing the snarling hissing face of a Seviper who at that very moment launch a barrage of poison stings, but Kai anticipating this type of counter attack launch himself into a counter with razor leaves.

Paikus grinned revealing his poisonous fangs."I've got to admit Kai you've certainly improved".

Landing on the lower branch of a tree, Kai turned to Paikus to deliver a goofy salute.

"Heh, well I do try to please."

"Even, so you're still no match for me."

In that instant quicker than Kai could react, Paikus launched himself from the tree at break neck speed and tackled him in the gut knocking the air from his lungs and sending him flying out of the tree.

Holding tight onto the egg, Kai flipped at the last second to land roughly on the ground now looking intently at the air bound seviper headed straight for him. Gathering energy in the pit of his stomach Kai desperately launch a bullet seed at the incoming snake, who then twisted his body out the way to land a few feet away from Kai.

"I'm almost sad to say i'm disappointed Kai," Paikus said in a mocking tone. "I'd have thought your skill level was some what improved from the last, but it turns out you've become worse".

Kai narrowed his eyes angrily at the snickering snake. This wasn't the type of battle he could win now, in his current state or condition, and Paikus knew it. If he was gonna get out of here alive with the egg he would have to hold nothing back and assault Paikus with everything he had, but in that exact moment before Kai could so much and blink, Paikus attacked his once dark tail now glowing a deadly light headed straight for his neck.

Without any time to think Kai called on his agility attack to just narrowly missed the tip of Paikus poison tail attack. Taking advantage on his opponents missed opportunity Kai began to charge up the attack he hoped would end it all. Taking note to tuck the egg deep under his arm Kai took aim and slashed upon Paikus with his leaf blade attack. In a clash of light Kai stood in surprise as his leaf blade attack had in fact been blocked by Paikus, who gave Kai a grin and in a flash of movement lunged for Kai and pierced his shoulder with his poisonous fangs.

Before Kai could so much as scream out in pain he was whipped around by Paikus and slammed into a near by tree slumped over barely conscious with blood dripping down his neck a with a paw wearily holding on to the egg.

"This ends now Kai," hissed Paikus taking much enjoyment from the crumbled figure of Kai who lay there finally helpless and at his mercy."Don't worry too much about what becomes of your body," he cackled."I'm sure some nearby flock of sparrow will enjoy feasting upon your flesh!"

Kai struggled desperately to move, to launch an attack, to do anything! But to his dismay his body seeming paralyzed from the bite to the shoulder. He was completely helpless and lay there numbly to the mercy of Paikus, who stood there waving his sword like tail back in forth in a swaying motion as it took on the now familiar glow of a poison tail attack.

"Try not to blink!" Paikus cackled lunging forward, his tail poised to strike like a human scythe. Kai simply stared as the visual of the seviper's glowing scythe like tail became closer and closer. Well it wouldn't be as worst as what the resistance would do to him if they'd ever found out. As Paikus closed in, Kai suddenly felt a warm sort of aura enveloped him. He looked around for the source only to glance down at the now bright glowing egg in his hands. It couldn't be hatching now was it!

As Kai watched in awe at the progress of the egg, he nearly forgot that he was about to be impaled by a certain seviper when a scream startled him. Paikus stood only mere inches away from his neck with his tail, but appeared to be being repelled by some sort of force field. Paikus snarled viciously as he forcibly pushed through for Kai's neck when suddenly; a bright light suddenly engulfed Paikus, and the next thing Kai knew he saw him sent flying overheard the treetops many hundred yards away. Kai sat there mouth agape at what he had just witnessed.

"I suppose I owe you a thank you then," he spoke glancing down at the still glowing egg.

A sudden pulse from the egg rippled through Kai's body, as he carefully placed the egg down in front of him. As the egg began to glow and now start to crack, Kai sat there in amazement, as he witnessed the birth of the Pokémon who would be one day destined to save the world.


	2. Chapter 1: Apa'chee

**A/N: I'd like to give a special thanks to all those who read and reviewed my first chapter and an even bigger thanks to KittyKat8888 for giving me my first review ever! As before any helpful tips or corrections to make this story better are greatly appreciated. So with further ado I present to you all Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon  
**

A shriek of pain and terror echoed loudly throughout the circular chamber, reverberating painfully off of its walls. The area outside of it laid cast in darkness, but though it was very dark out, a fire burning from somewhere above, cast the entire room into a dim eerie light revealing the battered and bruised body of Paikus as he cowered in agony on the stone floor.

"You've failed me Paikus," a dark ominous voice hissed menacingly, its tone being amplified powerfully from the reverberating stone walls. "One simple task I give you, my most devoted servant, and you fail!" the voice spat out acid leaping onto the poor snake's already burned scales, and he whimpered slightly in fear.

"M-master please let me explain!" the beaten seviper cried out. "I had the grovyle lying helpless at my mercy when-Ack!"

His plea was immediately cut off, as a large tail slammed painfully into the side of his head.

"Your words our meaningless to me now Paikus," the voice hissed. "I have no room in my organization for failure, and you've proven to be a prime example of that term tonight."

The beaten snake cowered on the floor, shaking in fear at the large imposing figure that slowly slithered around him. Paikus knew there was no hope in trying to reason with this figure. Oh how he knew. How many other countless Pokémon had he eagerly watched plead for their lives only to be wiped out in a single attack. If there was even the slightest chance of hope he would survive, he would have to beg, and beg like no other before him.

"Master, please!" Paikus cried out begging with every morale and fiber of his being. "Tell me what must I do to regain your favor, and soothe your wrath?"

"All I want from you Paikus is a name," hissed the voice softly. "What insufferable creature was it that had the audacity to steal my egg?"

Paikus suddenly gazed fearfully through his one able eye at the towering figure above knowing this question may have just signed his death warrant. Taking care not to leave the creature waiting, as it hated nothing more than to wait; he uttered the name of the Pokémon that would forever go down in history, as the first major blow to the Magimom Clan.

"K-Kai, th-the grovyle."

For several minutes the only known sound in the chamber was the crackling from the fire positioned up above the room, as the large figure remained pondering this new tidbit of information.

"Ah," the figure whispered so softly Paikus had to strain to hear its voice. "So the grovyle's decided to defy me again. No matter," it spoke, its voice returning back to its normal tone and turning back to Paikus. "The grovyle will be dealt with in due time in which then I will then retrieve my egg, but unfortunately for you Paikus you wont be around much longer to witness that."

Before Paikus could so much as utter a syllable of complaint from out of his mouth it immediately transformed into a terrified screech of agony, as he was engulfed in a stream of flames. As the last dying screams of Paikus began to ebb away, elsewhere in a later time, the small purple form of Apa'chee the aipom awoke screaming.

5 months later

Apa'chee had fallen, or to put it more precisely, slipped. Apparently while he had been sleeping in his favorite Oran berry tree, his body had gone limp and toppled some six or seven feet from said tree heading straight for the ground. Without having a split second to truly process exactly what was going on his body reacted on its own accord and made a desperate grabbed for the immediate nearest branch with his tail like hand, and swung him onto it safely. He lay clutching the branch, desperately trying to still his beating heart which at the moment was beating like the sounds of a tauros stampede. That was one way to wake up from an afternoon nap, but probably not one he would have chosen for himself.

He looked up puzzled to the spot where he had fallen from the tree and gave himself a quick check over to see if everything was in its right place. That was really weird for him to be falling out of trees when he was an adept climber and the treetops were basically a second surrogate home to him. The sudden fuzzy image of a burning chamber came into view reminding Apa'chee of the dream that had shocked him from his sleep only moments before. There had been two Pokémon in a circular like room, but one had been hidden from view. He concentrated hard, frowning slightly, trying to remember exactly what had taken place. The Pokémon that was in view was not one he had ever seen before, but recognized as a seviper from past information given to him by his brother. It was being tortured by the other Pokémon for failing to complete some task about retrieving something, but no matter how hard he tried, Apa'chee couldn't remember what.

This had been the third time in a month where he had been plagued by weird dreams of Pokémon he'd never met, and Apa'chee was starting to get fed up with it. Okay truth be told, he may have had a small desire as to what purpose these Pokémon had to do with him, but not to the point he was willing to have daily nightmares about them. Along with the recent dream of the seviper, Apa'chee had dreamed about a very large small winged bipedal dragon he had later learned was known as the Pokémon dragonite, and one particular spooky one that involved a floating purple head with hands, but his brother hadn't been able to give him much information about what kind of Pokémon the creature was. When Apa'chee had asked his brother f he knew why he was having such dreams, he'd been told to not take them seriously, but to report the dreams to him the very second after he woke.

That had truly been a strange request in that Apa'chee suspected his brother may be in fact hiding the truth that he knew more about Apa'chee's dreams than he let on. It saddened Apa'chee a bit that his brother may possibly be holding the truth out on him, but he reasoned he must have a good reason for it. His brother was usually like that a lot. He had a knack for doing things that he felt were protecting him from trouble, but Apa'chee couldn't really complain seeing as he had cared for him ever since he'd hatched from an egg.

That there was another strange topic that seemed to be avoided by his brother concerning how he'd come into contact with his egg. Every time Apa'chee ever brought it up his brother would immediately lock his jaw and hurriedly switched to another topic. But all this thought about his brother suddenly made him realize the lack of his brother's presence in the grassy clearing they were currently residing in. From his position in the tree, Apa'chee did a quick survey over the small grassy clearing for any sign of him. It wouldn't be that hard to notice him, as Apa'chee could usually spot the long leaf like blade hanging from the back of his head anywhere, but this time that familiar body trait was nowhere to be seen. Taking care to watch his step this time around, Apa'chee swung himself by the tail from the branch to land softly on the grassy ground.

Almost immediately a plop on the head from a drop of rain alerted Apa'chee's attention to the sky, and moments later a soft drizzle began to pour down around the clearing. 'Well that was unexpected', Apa'chee thought cheerfully, watching as the cool spray of rain fell in a curtain across the grassy clearing. Tilting his face upwards to the sky Apa'chee let the cool drizzle soak him right down to his fur. It felt good, that cool tingle that enveloped him as he closed his eyes. Finally taking a moment to remember what he was doing before it started raining, Apa'chee began to scourer around the clearing for any sign of his brother. Besides a few boulders the clearing was completely dead of anything with only the soft pitter patter of the rain hitting leaves and grass as a source of sound.

It slightly unnerved him that his brother had left him alone without so much as a sign that he'd be back. After Apa'chee had hatched he fondly remembered how he stuck to his brother like two butterfree to honey for the first two weeks of his life. During that time he learned to talk a bit, and only a week later was putting whole words into full complete sentences to the complete bewilderment of his brother. Apa'chee secretly suspected with a slight grin, that his brother was more than relieved when he finally figured out how to walk on his own, without having to worry about his eardrum being constantly bombarded with question after question. From then on they traveled a lot together never staying in one spot for to long, with his brother describing the sights, areas, habitats, and the Pokémon that inhabited. Though Apa'chee knew the name of over two hundred and fifty different Pokémon species he had never actually met a single one of them.

He had never actually put much thought into why they avoided other Pokémon, but Apa'chee had the slightest idea that if he had it would be one of those protecting him from harm things, his brother was so fond of doing. Probably one of the only things his brother had never seemed to budge on was the topic of Apa'chee's battle training. For the first three months of their life together, his brother had straight up refused to train him. Now Apa'chee knew he was only saying this out of his obsessive knack to protect him, but he was really going over the line with this one.

It took maybe three weeks or so of coaxing from Apa'chee to even get him to agree to the simplest of attacks. Although he was glad his brother was finally teaching him something he didn't see how tail whip and sand attack were hardly useful in stopping him from getting beaten to a pulp. A few weeks ago however, his brother had told him one evening that he would shortly start teaching him more advanced techniques. This had come way from left field, and Apa'chee was more than to busy celebrating his good fortune to notice the tensed and strangely occupied expression his brother held.

Now that he actually thought about it, he'd never really gave thought to why his brother was deciding now to finally train his seriously. Whatever had changed his mind into now must have been important or other-A sudden rustle from bushes a few yards away tore Apa'chee from his day dream stupor and into a sense of panic. Something was coming this way, and as he shuffled a little closer up to get a better something rose from the bushes.

The figure had a large intimidating shape to it, which immediately reminded Apa'chee of the mysterious entity from his dream. Without thinking his body seemed to go into auto pilot, and launched a clutter of golden stars from his tail at the approaching figure. Seconds later his ears were greeted with a loud grunt followed by an even louder thump, as the projectiles made contact with the target. Grinning madly, Apa'chee scampered over to view the fallen intruder he had felled with a single attack.

'Wait until big brother hears about this,' he thought gleefully coming to stand over the fallen Pokémon. 'I took out this gigantic Pokémon all by myself!'

What greeted him however, as he finally got a good look at the Pokémon turned his grin into a small nervous chuckle, and shy wave of his tail. Lying on the ground in front of him was the annoyed face of Kai the grovyle glaring hatefully up at him.

**A/N: OK kind of a boring chapter I know, but it was needed to introduce the character of our hero Apa'chee. But I make this promise that the next chapter will be a lot more exciting than this once was, so as to all of my readers out there, R&R, and as always yours truly**

**-Lightning of the West**


	3. Chapter 2: Agility

**A/N: Early update here way quicker than my original plotted out time, but oh well without further ado ladies and gentlemen chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon  
**

Apa'chee trailed uneasily behind Kai with his eyes carefully averted to the ground, as not to catch the gaze of the grovyle who would occasionally glance back at him. He knew he was in trouble with the large grass type; the only question was how much. Kai hadn't said so much as a word to him since he had attacked him five minutes ago and Apa'chee was very worried with good reason. The grovyle had a very nasty sort of way of disciplining him which would usually involve Apa'chee dodging razor leaves, bullet seeds, and the very scary threat of Kai chasing him around with a leaf blade trying to cut off his tail.

Apa'chee grimaced slightly remembering the day he ended having to hide out in the woods till nightfall until Kai had calmed down enough to bare the sight of him. There were still a few small cuts from the barrage of razor leaves that tore at his behind all day long. The small drizzle from earlier had lifted, and a small shine of sun had crossed over the clearing, highlighting the dew splattered grass and tree leaves, making them sparkle slightly. Kai was heading for the base of Apa'chee's Oran berry and threw a quick glance back behind him to make sure Apa'chee was still following.

Coming to a stop at the base of the tree, Kai leaned against it, arms folded to look at Apa'chee frowning. 'This is it,' thought Apa'chee grimly closing his eyes tightly and bracing himself. Kai was about to unload a barrage of grass type style butt kicking on him, and he only hoped he would be able to still have a butt to sit on later on.

"Where did you learn that attack?"

Apa'chee's eyes popped open in surprise. That hadn't been what he was expecting, no, not at all.

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure," he told Kai. "It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I'm not even sure what kind of attack it was I did."

Kai nodded his head automatically, as if expecting the answer, although Apa'chee couldn't see how. This was the first time he had ever used an attack he himself wasn't familiar with, and coupled with the strange dream from earlier, he was having a very experiencing day. Kai's angry façade from earlier slowly began to ebb, and for the first time today he grinned at Apa'chee.

"I know you hate it when I leave without telling you Apa'chee, but don't you think attacking me was going a little over board?" Kai said now fully smiling.

Apa'chee sensing he was no longer in trouble happily returned the smile with an even bigger one of his own.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "It was an accident really; I mistook you for something else."

"Really now?" Kai asked skeptically. "Who else besides me would be lurking at here?"

Deciding now was better than later, Apa'chee jumped into his latest dream describing to Kai the circular room, and two Pokémon he had seen. As he spoke, Apa'chee noticed the good humored smile once on Kai's face slowly began to slip away, as he got into more detail of what happened. At one point when Apa'chee described the seviper who was being tortured, Kai made a strange gesture to a point near his shoulder, wincing slightly. If Apa'chee wasn't sure before that Kai knew the Pokémon he dreamed about, he was more than sure now. After he had finished speaking Apa'chee watched as Kai mulled over his new dream, frowning even more than he had before while listening.

"By chance did you happen to catch the name of the seviper?" Kai tried asking casually while failing miserably. He seemed tense and jumpy, as if what Apa'chee was about to say would set him off.

Screwing his face up, Apa'chee thought back to his dream from earlier today. Although he had only dreamed this some ten or twenty minutes ago, Apa'chee was drawing up blanks.

"Sorry," he told Kai after failing to remember.

The grovyle leaned back father against the tree, now looking up into the branches a tight serious expression on his face. Apa'chee gazed up at him worriedly. Out of all the dreams he had told Kai this one seemed to be affecting him the worse.

"Uh, Kai?" the aipom spoke nervously bringing the grovyle's attention back to him. "The- these dreams I've been having, what are they? I mean are they important, are the Pokémon I've been dreaming about important to me or something?"

Kai looked at Apa'chee for a long time without speaking. From what little Apa'chee could read from his unusually calm face, there was the small kind of debate going on in his mind of if he should actually tell him the truth this time. As time went by, Apa'chee was almost sure Kai would never answer him when he finally spoke.

"If I told you the truth, it would probably terrify you to the innermost core of your soul Apa'chee," he spoke calmly, his eyes never trailing away from his face, burning with some kind of unfound passion that forced Apa'chee to look away.

After many brief moments in which neither of them spoke, Apa'chee suddenly felt a hand on top of his head and looked up as Kai affectionately rubbed the tuft of hair on his head, smiling slightly.

"Come on," Kai said motioning with his head to the middle of the clearing. "I promised we were going to take your training more seriously and now seems like no better time than to get started."

Grinning widely, Apa'chee nodded his head eagerly following behind Kai to the middle of the clearing. Subconsciously, Apa'chee stored the conservation between him and Kai away. It was a talk for another time possibly when he was a bit over a year old. For now he'd focused on what Kai had to teach him and leave the mysterious dreams alone for the time being.

"Okay," Kai spoke coming to stand across from him in the clearing. "Seeing as this will be our first time doing something a bit more advanced, I've decided to start on something a bit more easy."

Apa'chee groaned inwardly. He should have known Kai would insist on something simple. How would he ever get stronger if Kai insisted on babying him; and Apa'chee was about to tell him as much when he suddenly vanished right before his eyes. If Apa'chee hadn't seen Kai standing in the spot right before him only seconds ago he would have sworn he was hallucinating. He glanced back and forth for the grovyle, but it seemed as if it was true what Apa'chee had guess earlier.

"I don't believe it, he's vanished!" Apa'chee laughed out grinning widely. He took it back now; anything that Kai had to teach him was worth all of his time. The only problem was where the heck was he?

A sudden poke to the midsection sent Apa'chee yelping in the air, and landing back down with his fur all ruffled from the scare. He immediately turned around to gape in shock at the grinning face of Kai.

"Not such a boring move I'm teaching you anymore now is it?"

Apa'chee laughed hopping excitedly around Kai, grinning wildly. "What was that move Kai? Come on; tell me I want to learn it!"

Kai grinned at the aipom's excitement, and held a paw out in front of him to stop him from jumping up in his face. "Easy there Apa'chee, it's called Agility."

"You've got to teach me it," the aipom pleaded eagerly. "I want to learn how to vanish into thin air like that too! Come on tell me how it is done."

"Impatient little monkey, aren't you?" Kai laughed.

"Come on!" Apa'chee pleaded tugging on the grovyle's hands. "You've got to teach me!"

"Okay, okay calm down," Kai told the purple monkey. "As easily as I can explain the move to you, Agility increases your speed by over two stages of level, and for someone your size and stature it's the perfect move."

"Will learning it let me disappear like you?" the aipom asked eagerly.

Kai grinned at him shaking his head. "Not for a long time Apa'chee. grovyle's by nature are extremely quick and agile Pokémon, which when using Agility increases our already fast speed to the point where it looks like we're disappearing. Although your species are also very quick and agile Pokémon, they're no where near a grovyle's level. For you too move as fast as me would take several years of trai-HUH!

Kai's speech died in his throat as he watched the small purple form of Apa'chee disappear into thin air. Like Apa'chee before him, Kai's mouth gaped open in shock. It was Impossible, he tried telling himself. There was no way a Pokémon only five months of age with little or no training could execute an Agility technique like a fully evolved sceptile; and what's more he did it on his first try ever. Kai's eyes darted over the clearing for the purple monkey, but as he'd suspected he was nowhere in sight.

"If he can accomplish this on his first try, than what happens when I actually teach him something that causes real damage?" the grovyle muttered to himself.

"HEL-low, down there!" a voice called from somewhere up above.

Kai quickly averted his eyes to the sky, and his mouth dropped even lower than it had before. Waving to him from up above at the top of the Oran berry tree was Apa'chee.

"So what's next?" the purple monkey asked grinning widely.

As Apa'chee laughed and Kai shouted for him to get down, neither one of them seemed to notice the silhouette of a large figure that from closer inspection appeared to be a floating head in midair. A loud rustle from the undergrowth behind it alerted the arrival of its companion, a large, bulky, and craggy like ball shape figure.

"**So that's our target, huh?" **the rock like ball rumbled.

"_Indeed," the _floating head replied in an almost if possible bored tone. _"The young one appears well adept beyond its years, and its teacher a very formidable adversary. Earlier today I swore he caught a glimpse of me trailing him."_

"**So do we attack now?"**

"_Oh, I suspect the right time will present it self in due time."_

**As always any helpful comments or criticism are gladly welcome. So R&R and as you should know by now thanks for reading by yours truly**

**-Lightning of the West**


	4. Chapter 3: Sasha

**A/N: As always reviews of helpful comments and criticism are welcome, so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon  
**

Apa'chee flopped down in the cool meadow of grass completely exhausted. For two long straight weeks Kai had put him through his paces during training, and he bore the bruises from it. He let out a long sigh trying to ease the buzzing that was currently ringing through his head. Although he was tired and could barely stand the purple Pokémon couldn't help but let a small grin cross his face. These past few weeks had been strenuous on Apa'chee's mental and physical being, but the feeling of getting stronger and learning something pushed him on to each lesson.

In the distant Apa'chee could see the sun setting off in the horizon bathing the landscape in warm, orange light. A soft breeze was blowing across the clearing cooling Apa'chee's burning fur, and he closed his eyes to enjoy the serene moment sighing contently. A small disturbance on his right announced the arrival of Kai who seconds later joined him in the grass. Like Apa'chee, Kai too was sporting the bruises from their past weeks of training, but if inspected closer it appeared the grovyle had received the worst end of it. There were no words spoken between them, it seemed almost inappropriate to do so. They welcome the silenced between them like a Slowpoke welcomes a shelder onto their tail, and watched as the last golden rays of the sun vanished off over the horizon.

A small probe to his side made Apa'chee look to his right at the grovyle who was currently holding a large blue fruit towards him. With a small grin of thanks, Apa'chee gratefully accepted the Oran berry and using his hand like tail brought the fruit to his mouth and bit into the fruit savoring its juicy wild assorted flavor. Leaning back farther into the grass Apa'chee enjoyed his meal, as every bite left him a bit fuller and stronger. Finally after fully eating Apa'chee belched loudly and sighed in content smiling widely. Now that he had eaten his full he was now feeling like his old self again, and turned to Kai to thank him when he noticed the grovyle had his back to him sound asleep. Not wanting to disturb the slumbering grovyle, Apa'chee quietly snuggled into the back of Kai, too sleepy himself to make a climb up into a nearby tree for the night, and let the whispers of the blowing wind lull him to sleep.

**XXXXXXX**

Apa'chee felt clogged, no, better yet he felt suffocated by some tremendous weight he couldn't see or hear. All around him seemed endless source of darkness that seemed to be putting out some type of pressure on Apa'chee's body. Apa'chee grunting slightly struggled to move against the darkness pushing down on his body, and slowly but surely began to walk along the darkness.

'This has to be a dreamed,' Apa'chee reasoned with himself; there was no other explanation for what was going on. 'But,' he thought while wandering aimlessly through the darkness. This had to be without a doubt the strangest dream he had ever come across of.

The darkness seemed to stretch on forever, and Apa'chee starting to get fed up with his predicament, launched a clutter of golden stars into a random direction which were immediately swallowed up by the darkness.

"Okay, so my swift attack didn't work, now what?" he asked aloud his voice carrying into the black abyss.

Suddenly, as if his question had been heard from some unknown God, a light from somewhere above flashed through the darkness blinding Apa'chee. Closing his eyes tightly and covering his face the Aipom waited until the golden light finally receded. Peeking through the cover of his arms Apa'chee watched, as the darkness began to ebb away and the place he stood in began to fill with light. As his eyes began to adjust to the light Apa'chee could only blink in surprise as he found himself in a plainness white room.

Apa'chee glanced around for some seeable way out, but as he surveyed the room, he realized there was actually no possible way out. A clutched of fear suddenly grabbed at Apa'chee's heart, and seconds later he was shaking violently. Apa'chee had no idea what was making him act like, but being in this enclosed colorless place made him suddenly gasp desperately for lack of air he sure was there.

"_Name, Apa'chee; age, five months and a half; species, aipom; attacks, swift, tackle, sand-attack, double team, agility, and dig; fear….. Hmmm what do you know, Claustrophobia." _

Apa'chee jumped, terrified at the sound of another voice. He stood where he was clutching his chest, with his eyes darting fervently across the room for the source of the voice. It had come suddenly and unexpected, completely catching him off guard; but what frightened him the most was the source of knowledge it spewed out about Apa'chee perfectly, as if rehearsed.

"W-where a-r-re you?" he called out, cursing himself for the way his voice trembled. "Come out, show your self!"

"_Wellllllllllllll, since the almighty Pokémon of destiny demands I present myself, I shall obliged," _the long drawled out voice of the entity spoke.

Apa'chee's eyes darted around for the emergence of the entity when suddenly he recoiled back, as a large purple face appeared before him. The sudden appearance of the figure forced Apa'chee back making him run to the farthest corner of the room away from the figure, terror clinging to every inch of his fur.

The figure was very large in shape, but instead having what Apa'chee had originally mistook for a body, there was nothing but a floating head with two floating hands positioned on the sides of its bod- er, head.

"_Greetings," the _floating head spoke, giving Apa'chee what he guessed was its best imitation of a bow._ "I am known as Vendetta, the haunter of a thousand terrible dreams."_

'So that's what this thing is,' Apa'chee thought viewing the Pokémon. A fitting name if he ever saw one for a Pokémon species, and it had called itself Vendetta right? If the Pokémon's appearance wasn't enough to freak someone out, its name sure was. They both watched each other, neither one speaking with Apa'chee looking tensed, and Vendetta looking particularly bored. Finally coming to terms that he wasn't going to get anywhere by being silent, Apa'chee, swallowing his fear made a stab at conversation.

"So, Vendetta was it? Umm maybe you can explain to me exactly who you are?"

"_Ah, but didn't you hear me?_ the Haunter asked in a bored slightly appalled tone. _"The haunter of a thousand terrible dreams; its pretty quite self explanatory don't you think?" _

"Okay then, explain how you know so much about me?" Apa'chee asked in an annoyed tone at the Haunter.

"_Ah, what Pokémon is there I don't know something about?"_ Vendetta asked floating aimlessly around the room. _"As for you dear Apa'chee, and the many other Pokémon I've oh so tormented; I find that the best way to find out how someone ticks, is to do research upon them, but I think you'll agree with me that certain kinds of research only go so far. It is by this observation that I discovered that a Pokémon's mental is the greatest possible route way to achieve the proper results necessary for my gain."_

Finally finish speaking; Vendetta stopped floating around the room to glance at the wide eyed tiny monkey before him looking clueless as could be. Some how managing to shake his body like head, the haunter muttered something about uneducated children and said in as simplest form as he could.

"_It means I entered your mind/dreams to find out about you, my dear purple friend."_

It was when Vendetta said this that something clicked in Apa'chee's brain.

"Wait a minute," he said looking at the Haunter in surprise." I saw someone like you in a dream of mine before! Are you telling me that was you those all those months ago reading my mind?"

"_Very well observant Apa'chee, I wouldn't have expected anything less from the Pokémon of destiny."_

Something about the when the Haunter said '_Pokémon of Destiny' _caused a shiver to run down his was the second time Vendetta had called him that and he wanted to know why.

"_Ah, yes Id forgotten the grovyle has refused to reveal your true nature to you,"_ Vendetta spoke seeming to have somehow read Apa'chee's thoughts. _"It's a small wonder why he hasn't done so already, its very probable that you would leave him at a seconds notice to seek out someone even stronger to train you."_

Apa'chee was really confused now. He had the slightest clue of what the haunter was talking about, only that he wanted to get of this place with him immediately.

"Uhh, is there anyway you could show me the way out of here?" Apa'chee asked hopefully.

"_Sadly this cannot be done Apa'chee,"_ the Haunter spoke lowering itself closer to his level. _"You see there is a reason I have taken over your dreams, and brought you into my nightmare realm."_

"Nightmare realm?" Apa'chee asked in confusement looking around the white room. "You call this place a nightmare?"

"_Yes this place may seem harmless now Apa'chee, but I designed it personally after viewing your mind and have concluded your fear of enclosed spaces."_

However as much as Apa'chee wanted to say that was false, he couldn't shake the feeling of terror he'd felt when he found himself in here. However no matter how true it may have been he didn't have to give this Haunter the satisfaction of letting it know it was right.

"_Ah, it appears your trying to find some flaw in my knowledge Apa'chee,"_ Vendetta spoke somehow managing to read Apa'chee's mind again._ "You were a Pokémon born of the wild, always out in the open around fresh air, and many different colors. You would naturally from how you were raised find an environment like this one uncomfortable and confining, which would make you Claustrophobic or in simpler terms fearful of enclosed places."_

Apa'chee found his head spinning at the spew of big words the Haunter was using, but caught enough of the babble to get an understanding.

"If you think that than your research is more flawed than you think!" Apa'chee blasted back in a show of fake bravado.

"_It's only natural that you would rebuke this claim,"_ Vendetta spoke slowly rising into the air._ "So as a show of my power I'll show you just how very wrong you are."_

In a flash of purple light the room around them began to suddenly shrink. Apa'chee watched in horror, as the floor, ceiling, and walls all now began to converge on each other shrinking the room smaller and smaller.

"Stop!" Apa'chee screamed now terrified beyond his wildest dreams. "Stop it please! I can't breath!"

But no matter how much the aipom cried, his pleas were drowned out by malicious laughter of Vendetta who looked down on him with sick glee plastered on its face.

"_I'm here to deliver a message that you'd be insane not to take heed of aipom,"_ Vendetta hissed out dropping all signs of boredom from his voice. _"You're the one, the one, the Pokémon of destiny who's destined to do the bidding of whoever claims you. My master has need of your power, and you will give yourself to him willingly or not, it makes no difference! You're to leave with me now, and never look back, forget the grovyle he no longer matters now anyway. You belong to Ooni, and you will submit your power to his will."_

Apa'chee was curled up in a ball, cowering, shaking, and crying out in fear as he hoped for Kai to come save him. This was a nightmare, a true nightmare! The room was no larger than a small box now, as Apa'chee was now being pressed against the sides of it suffocating, gasping, and pleading for air. Maybe he should submit, and give this Ooni person whoever they were what they wanted from him. He was so confused now, but even more terrified. Anything was better than this Apa'chee thought in absolute fear. Burning alive, being drowned, anything to just make this madness stop, when…. It did.

The room had suddenly stopped shrinking. As Apa'chee raised his tear stained face he looked in surprise to find the room at its original size, and the small lithe figure of a small, purple Pokémon at his side. On closer inspection he could see the mark of a gem clearly embedded into the forehead of the Pokémon, which left Apa'chee with little guess of what kind of specie it was.

"You're an Espeon," he spoke, drawing the attention of the Pokémon.

"Yes, hello there Apa'chee, I'm Sasha."

If Apa'chee wasn't shocked by the feminine voice that came from the espeon's mouth, he was even more surprised when he heard her name.

"You look terrible," she observed flicking her twin tails, and giving Apa'chee a quick check over. "Don't worry about a thing now, I've got Vendetta handled."

And with that she turned her back to him facing the snarling ghost that was Vendetta. To say the least he appeared less than happy to see her.

"_Here to spoil my fun again I see Sasha!"_ the haunter growled angrily frowning immensely.

"Your little torture game is over," She spoke calmly, taking an offensive stance. "I've just finished saving Kai from your partner, and now you're next."

"_A pity Boulder wasn't able to finish Kai off,"_ Vendetta spoke his hands beginning to take on a strange aura._ "But I guess ill make up for his folly by eliminating….you!"_

In a flash of dark aura, Vendetta hurled towards Sasha a swirling ball of what looked like darkness, and she immediately leaped out of the way firing one of her own at the haunter. Vendetta swiveled to the side of the room dodging the attack, and lunged at Sasha with a glowing hand. He slashed down at the espeon who neatly ducked out of the attack, and fired an odd looking kind of beam from her gemstone that sent the haunter hurtling back.

Vendetta lay hovering in the air now looking very much annoyed and poised to retaliate. Sasha it seemed was thinking along the same lines, and tensed in anticipation for the next attack, only then to blink in surprise as the haunter's essence began to disintegrate.

"_Another time I think,"_ Vendetta replied smugly as he disappeared from view._ "Apa'chee don't worry. We'll be in touch again soon enough."_ With that last fleeting taunt, Vendetta disappeared from view.

Sasha clearly annoyed Vendetta had managed to slip away, snorted loudly. Apa'chee on the other hand was feeling mixed emotions at the Haunter's disappearance. He was glad to finally be rid of him, but knew that when he least expected Vendetta would return. This was turning out to be one fine mess he was in, and one way or another he was going to get answers.

"I think its time we got out of here," Sasha spoke coming to his side. "Kai's likely to have a miltank if we don't wake up soon, so closed your eyes and relax."

Doing as he was told, Apa'chee closed his eyes and felt the warm feeling of Sasha's nose pressed up against his forehead; and in a flash of light they were gone.

**A/N: I'd actually like some feedback on this chapter to know what you liked or either hated about it, and maybe a brief summary of what you think of the story so far. As always, R&R, from yours truly**

**-Lightning of the West**


	5. Chapter 4: A Time For Truth

**A/N: Here's the next chapter**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon  
**

Apa'chee felt strangely light. His body seemed to be floating effortlessly in thin air, but that couldn't be right. Last time he checked he didn't have the ability to fly or hover in the air, but here he was, an aipom gliding aimlessly throughout the sky without a care in the world. The feeling of flight was a strange and new experience for him, but one that he found to be oddly exhilarating to be apart of. The feeling of being as light as a feather was also a new one for Apa'chee, but in his almighty aipom optimism found the fact to be flying through the air free as a pidgey a wondrous take on life.

As he shifted effortlessly across the sky a twinge of a familiar scent bit at the tip of his nose. Sniffing around and tasting the air with his tongue reminded Apa'chee fondly of the smell of fresh morning dew on a wet blade of grass, as he woke from a long night of peaceful sleeping. It was one of those few small pleasures in life that Apa'chee always looked forward to in the morning. As he took a deeper breathe of the fresh air around him a different more close to home scent attracted his attention.

It was a smell that had instantaneously been imprinted into his memory bank the moment he had hatched from an egg, which later on he'd discovered was a instinct mechanism instilled in all baby Pokémon to automatically know the body signature of their parenting other. Unlike most baby Pokémon in which this instinct mechanism is used to discover their mother in Apa'chee's case this was used to discover his brother, Kai the grovyle. And according to the taste of the air and buzzing feeling in his nose he was some where nearby.

Spreading his arms wider out around, Apa'chee began flying through the enclosed sky in search of his brother. His scent was close, closer than it should be Apa'chee thought. As he gave the air around him a whiff for Kai, his brother's unmistakable scent of tree bark and lush tree growth sparked from somewhere directly above him. Glancing up into the sky above a small glowing shaft of light could be seen peering slightly at a part in the clouds directly above his head. Convinced of what his sense of smell was telling him Apa'chee made his ascent up through the sky and clouds for the shaft of light that seemed glow brighter the closer he got to it. Making impact with the light Apa'chee immediately felt as if he had come from being submerged under water for a long period of time, and as he seemed to get his bearings around himself he no longer had the sense of being weight less and light as a feather. In fact now as his vision became engulfed in a sea of darkness, he felt very much back down to earth, heavy, and stiff.

He was moving again, but this was not like before when he was flying through the air. This sense of moving was more realistic and earth bound, as he felt a shift of weight of below him that was followed by a gust of wind blowing against his face as he felt himself once again moving. There was light creeping up around his eyelids, and as he opened them he was greeted by the all too familiar sight of the morning sun.

The sun was peering above over roofs of many tree tops that passed by just as quickly as he made eye contact with them. Rays of light were cutting and shinning bright fully through the cloves of leaves and twigs eradicating the morning mist and fog that tried valiantly to fight against its increasing light, but retreated as the sun increased its presence. All around him was the foreign sounds and tunes of various bird Pokémon  
who began to awaken and welcome the morning with their melodic chirps and whistles.

As he lay there taking all the sounds and sights of the moving forest around him, Apa'chee came to notice the warm presence of another pressed against him and what's more that he was being cradled in the strong embrace of someone else. Tilting his head slightly relief pulsed through his body, as the bold determined face of Kai greeted him from above. After what he had gone through the sighting of Kai and having him carrying him through the tree tops of the forest lulled Apa'chee into a very relaxed state of mind. With the imposing and welcoming figure of his big brother around, Apa'chee felt there was no one, Pokémon or human, that could touch him at the moment.

A small sigh of relief from the small figure cradled in his arms announced to the grovyle the awakening of his little companion. With a huge pressure of worry lifting off his chest Kai glanced down to greet his little brother with a welcoming smile, but what greeted Apa'chee as Kai looked down upon him sent a jolt of shock reeling through his body.

This was not the same grovyle he had snuggled up to last night when they'd fallen asleep in the clearing together. The grovyle that now greeted him was far away from being the green grass type he recognized as his brother. Blackish-purple bruises stretched painfully across his face; his body too was littered with bruises with certain areas looking like they could cry out in agony; and he looked absolutely exhausted. His eyes were a different story though. Bright and alert, they seemed to house a burning intensity of worry and care that lingered and predominated despite his condition.

"Are you okay?" Kai immediately asked noting the panicked looked on Apa'chee's face.

"Am I okay?" The aipom asked incredulously looking at battered grovyle. "Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing, Kai you looked horrible."

"Oh this," the grovyle said with a dismissive gesture of his injuries. "These are nothing, trust me it'll take more than a stone headed golem to beat the mighty Kai!" He boasted with a grin which was immediately replaced with a wince, as if stretching his face hurt.

Apa'chee was clearly not put at ease with Kai's attempt at fake bravado, and he knew it. The Aipom always was more attentive than most full grown Pokémon he knew at detecting a lie when he heard one, and it was truly discouraging to the Grovyle that he could not put his little brother at ease.

"Hey don't worry about it," he spoke in a soothing tone to the agitated monkey. "What's done is done and I'll live from it. What's important is that you're safe from harm where that Mew damned Haunter can't get his hands on you."

Kai's mention of Vendetta suddenly made Apa'chee realize that something was amiss.

"Wait a minute where's that Pokémon from last night that saved me. The espeon, Sasha I think she said her name was, where's she?"

Seeing the scowl that split across Kai's face made Apa'chee immediately wish he hadn't mentioned her.

"Your great _savior's_ scouting ahead," Kai said not trying to hide his immediate distaste of the gem wielding psychic Pokémon.

Sensing that it was best to stray off the topic of Sasha for now Apa'chee decided to get a better idea of all that had transpired last night.

"Kai, can you tell me what happen to me last night, and where you were?"

"More or less we were ambushed as we slept last night," Kai began. "By Vendetta and his cohort, an over sized behemoth of a golem by the name of Boulder. It was my fault it happened. I shouldn't have let my guard down and fallen asleep, I'd become too relaxed in the area we were staying in thinking we were safe and look what happen. More out of stupid look than skill on my part, I was able to detect at the last moment the incoming attack of boulder who had stepped on a broken branch in the grass and I tore from sleep to meet him. As you can tell from my breathtakingly beautiful appearance I took quite a beating. But while I fought Boulder I didn't take into thought that he may have a partner or that he may in fact just be distracting me so I wouldn't think twice of protecting you," he paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts with a bitter grimace.

"I fell for the ploy and let that scum Vendetta use his Dream Eater technique which thanks to him from digging around other peoples memories and feeding off their fear is more powerful than that of an average ghost types. I've never experienced it myself, but I've heard stories from others of what its like to have him inside your head, and as you learned first hand last night it isn't fun."

Apa'chee shivered slightly remembering how the vindictive haunter had tortured him so with his fear of enclosed spaces almost suffocating him to death in a shrinking box.

"Before I'd realized what happen to you it was too late and Vendetta had locked you inside his Nightmare Realm. When I tried to come to your aid I was bulldozed by Boulder and had to put my full focus on fighting him with you in danger." Kai's tone was self loathing and Apa'chee hated himself for being the reason behind the grovyle's pain. If he had just been stronger he would have been able to throw off Vendetta's Nightmare Realm, and Kai wouldn't have a need to be blaming himself for it now.

"I'm not sure if I would have been able to save you if Sasha hadn't appeared," Kai admitted softly surprising Apa'chee. "I was taking a royal beating from Boulder and if she hadn't showed up and socked it to him I probably wouldn't be here."

"So is that when she entered my mind to stop Vendetta?" Apa'chee asked.

"Yeah, that rights right," Kai said nodding. "After Boulder was ran off she then came over to you and pressed her nose against your head going into some trance then. She stayed like that for a few minutes until she came to and said you were safe. From then on we decided it wasn't safe to remain in the area and decided to make head for headquarters."

Mention of the words headquarters had Apa'chee looking at Kai in bewilderment. Noticing his current confused expression, Kai only shook his head indicating that it was a conversation for a later time.

Apa'chee remained silent for the rest of the time, as Kai sprinted through the tree tops bouncing from branch to branch without much effort. There was a lot going on at the moment that Apa'chee's young mind couldn't yet fully process. For reasons beyond him some person name Ooni wanted him and they were sending maniac ghost Pokémon after him, who Kai it turned out had known of beforehand from what he'd originally told him. And then there was the espeon Sasha who had oddly enough come out of nowhere at the first sign of trouble, saving him, a Pokémon he was sure she had never met, but knew the name of. Not to mention the fact that she and Kai seemed to know each very well, and were now traveling together to some place called the Headquarters.

It was a lot for the young aipom to take in a short amount of time, but amazingly for him, Apa'chee didn't feel as overwhelmed by all these questions as he felt he should. In fact the discovery of all these questions just made him that more eager and intrigued in learning exactly what was going, and what all this stuff had to do with him.

Kai suddenly came to a halt in the top of a large tree branch staring at something. Following his gaze, Apa'chee turned to see Sasha the espeon standing calmly on the branch across from them.

"We should take a quick break here now since we won't be arriving at headquarters for another two hours or so," she addressed Kai with something in her tone indicating that this statement wasn't up for discussion.

The grovyle frowned at the espeon, but otherwise made no objections to the order and with a shift in weight vaulted from his perch in the trees to land on the grassy floor below. Kai gave a small grunt of pain as he landed, but when noticing Apa'chee's concerned face gave a small grin before placing him gently down on the ground. Moments later they were joined by Sasha, who landed gracefully on the ground before them with the acrobatic skill of a mankey and poise of a gardevoir.

Silently behind him, Apa'chee could just barely make out the audible remark of Kai's: "Show off," before Sasha approached them.

"I trust that your well and healthy, Apa'chee," she asked with genuine concern, but before Apa'chee could answer Kai broke in with a growl.

"_He's fine_."

The espeon didn't so much as give Kai a glance before adding: "If you want I can fetch a few Oran berries to help rebuild your strength?"

Before Apa'chee could answer that he was fine, Kai once again butted in with a scathing reply: "I thought I just told you he was fine Sasha. For an espeon you seem to lack the ability to articulate what he's fine means."

Apa'chee had no idea what Kai's problem with Sasha was, but he knew better than to interrupt the grovyle when he was in an agitated state. And this probably was the most agitated he'd seen Kai in a long time.

Sasha met Kai's fiery stare with a cool gaze before replying: "If that's your best go at an insult Kai then I see why you spend more time running your mouth then fighting. For such a supposedly competent fighter Kai, you fighting prowess was pitiful at best last night. How you ever managed to out ranked me is a mystery only you know the answer to."

Apa'chee began to slowly shift uneasily from the now smug looking espeon, and pissed off face off Kai's. Though he had no idea what Sasha was talking about it obviously turned out to be a very useful jibe at Kai who now seemed about to blow in outrage.

"Are you insulting me?" Kai raged angrily.

"Why yes I am," Sasha said with a small smirk. "It's nice to see you can at least tell the difference between an insult and complement."

"I- i wha- what?" Kai sputtered indignantly. "I- I'll have you know that I've fought Pokémon twice as strong as you, and lived to talk about it."

"If you're referring to your small squabble with Paikus or the meaningless confrontation you had with Gargus than your more deluded than I thought Kai," Sasha struck back with a flick of her twin tails."Paikus was nothing more than a low ranking grunt of the Magimom clan, and we've all heard the story of how Coal had to save your worthless carcass from being impaled into the ground by Gargus."

"Hey, that story isn't verbally accurate," Kai defended sheepishly. "There are details that were twisted and taken out of context by those presence."

Sasha snorted loudly causing Kai's frown to deepen.

"Sure," she replied sarcastically. "I'd believe you if it wasn't for the fact that there weren't over thirty five witnesses who can clarify that you were five seconds from having your head squashed in by a rampaging magmortor. I can't understand why you take it upon yourself to entice fights against Pokémon's who not only clearly have a type advantage against you, but are completely out of your league."

"Hey what can I say, I like a challenge," Kai said winking at a terribly confused Apa'chee.

Sasha rolled her eyes at the impossible grovyle before addressing them both.

"I'm going to go around and a do a psychic sweep of the area while we wait so you two kindly try to stay out of trouble."

"No promises," Kai grinned winking.

The espeon shook her at the grovyle and crouched to take off in the trees before adding.

"Oh and Kai, I think its time you finally told Apa'chee the truth, the entire truth."

That seemed to wipe the grin right off of Kai's face, as Sasha disappeared into the tree tops. Apa'chee looked from the fleeting form of the espeon to the grim look on Kai's face. He truthfully couldn't find some way to comfort Kai on this one, as he'd been eagerly for this day to come.

Kai gave a deep sigh and looked at Apa'chee. "Come on I suppose I've owed this to you for sometime now."

He took a seat in the grass and motioned for Apa'chee to do the same.

"I've been against telling you about this until you were older Apa'chee, but it appears I won't have the courtesy."

Apa'chee leaned in closer watching Kai in anticipation, waiting for what sure was to be the answers to all the craziness he's endured these past months. It was time for answers and he'd sit here until every question he had was just that.

Kai noticing Apa'chee's apprehension decided it was better now to start then later.

"I guess it all started back when a select few Pokémon got it into their heads that it was due time we overthrow the humans."

**A/N: Next chapter the truth is revealed and we finally start the actually plot to the story. As always R&R, don't forget to review and a very happy new year to all of you from yours truly**

**-Lightning of the West**


	6. Chapter 5: The Truth Finally Revealed

**A/N: Yep two updates in two days time and special A/N at the bottom of the chapter that you should all check out after finish reading this**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon  
**

Apa'chee stared at Kai absolutely confused.

"Pokémon are trying to over throw the humans? What does any of that have to do with me or with what's been going on?" he asked Kai.

The grovyle sat where he was twirling a blade of grass between his fingers and glanced sideways at Apa'chee.

"It has everything to do with you Apa'chee," he growled suddenly angry."There's a war going on between the species of Pokémon around the world for dominance. It all started when this power hungry lunatic of a Pokémon came out of nowhere and proclaimed that the sole purpose that we Pokémon have these powers and abilities is to take over and rule the humans of the earth."

Apa'chee's eyes grew wide in shock at this. Was there actually such a Pokémon in the world who really believed this?

Kai noticing his look merely nodded his head knowing what he was thinking.

"Sadly Apa'chee there are Pokémon in the world who believe this, and when they first heard this Pokémon speak there were many interested in the prospect of trumping the humans for control. They felt humans took advantage of us, using our kind for their sick sense of entertainment called Pokémon battling and ripping us away from our families and imprisoning us inside devices known as Poké balls.

Apa'chee was having trouble wrapping his mind around all this.

"You can't tell me all Pokémon thought this?" he asked Kai. "I mean you told me yourself that humans are really nice and kind to Pokémon."

"Trust me Apa'chee, there are others like me who disagreed with this and held no ill feelings towards humans," Kai said. "Many different species of Pokémon spoke out against this dictator of a Pokémon for riling the others up and spreading these veil lies. This probably would have worked out in the long end if wasn't for the fact that those little outbursts got them and majority of their specie wiped out."

"_WHAT!"_ Apa'chee shouted out in horror. "Are you telling me this Pokémon really had entire species of Pokémon killed because they spoke out against it?"

With a grim face Kai nodded at the purple monkey.

"It was because of that stunt from the newly named Magimom clan that started the war. But they took things a step further by eliminating over half the population of dragon Pokémon in one organized strike."

"Didn't the other Pokémon do something!" demanded Apa'chee. "Didn't they strike back against the Magimom Clan?"

"You got to understand that other Pokémon were now cowering in fear at the destruction of the dragon Pokémon Apa'chee. They feared that even if one of them uttered a word of outrage against the Magimom that they would sentence their entire kind to death. But even so there were Pokémon who wouldn't stand for this injustice and banded together forming the Poke resistance and began raging war against the Magimom Clan."

"So is that your big secret, Kai?" Apa'chee asked. "Are you and Sasha members of the resistance and taking me there to help fight?"

Suddenly Kai began to bust laughing, leaving Apa'chee staring at him puzzled.

"_Me?_ A member of the resistance?" Kai asked through chuckles. No, no Apa'chee I can assure you that you're wrong on this one. I'm probably about as popular with the resistance as I am with the Magimom clan. The resistance means well, really they do, but their methods and the way they're going about this war is all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Apa'chee asked.

Kai sat quietly for a moment thinking Apa'chee's answer over.

"Let's just say," he finally spoke. "That the resistance has been known to sacrifice an entire community of innocent Pokémon if it meant the destruction of one of the Magimom Clans troop divisions. Their a bit radical in the sense that their motto is 'do whatever it takes to win.' And trust me when I say that they're not above putting innocence Pokémon out as bait if it means winning a battle."

"But that terrible! Apa'chee gasped in shock. "I thought they were supposed to protect Pokémon from the Magimom Clan, not help add to the death toll."

"If you think that's bad Apa'chee, then you probably don't want to know that any Pokémon who doesn't join their side is automatically branded a traitor and locked away until they've had a change of heart. Their way of doing things, in a sense makes them no better than the Magimom, and it's the very reason that the humans started the Black Corps.

"The black-, wait what?" Apa'chee asked now completely confused. "What's that Kai?"

Kai took a moment before answering this time, twirling the blade of grass between his fingers now.

"I've never much told you about my past Apa'chee, but when I was much younger and only still a treeco I was originally a captured Pokémon, and battled along side a trainer for years. Three years ago my trainer lost his zeal for battling and released us all back into the wild. The others went their own separate ways, but I was the only one who still went back time to time and visited him. It was through my visits that I was finally able one day to convey to him the nature of what was going own in the wild. My trainer who was a major figure in the human world managed to bring attention of the war to the rest of the humans to the point where the Pokémon league itself wanted to get involved and settle the quarrel."

Apa'chee nodded his head listening eagerly. Kai had once told him about the human trainers of the league and the amazingly powerful Pokémon they wielded. If anyone could stop the war it had to be them. But, he finally realized if the Pokémon League had interfered in the war, then why was it still going on today?

"Unfortunately," Kai continued. "Not all the humans felt they should get involved in a 'Pokémon' war, and felt that we should all just be left to duke it out amongst ourselves. In the aftermath of this turn of events the Pokémon league decided to agree with the people publicly and let us murder each other."

"But-"Kai continued quickly noticing the outraged looked on Apa'chee's face. "Secretly they started up a small team of some of the most powerful Pokémon from around the country and formed an elite secret fighting force of Pokémon to end it war without any more necessary bloodshed quietly from the sidelines."

Apa'chee's brain was buzzing. This was so much information to take in at one time, but if what Kai was telling him was in fact true he had been brought up ignorant to the war itself this entire time.

"So," he asked. "Does that mean that you're apart of the Black Corps."

Kai gave him a small grin.

"Catch on quick don't you, Apa'chee. I'm a field agent whose job is to handle higher level type sort of missions for the Black Corps. We've been doing the best we can for a couple of years now; making small successes here and there, but it seemed liked not much of anything we could do would sway the tide of the war until suddenly, something extraordinary happen."

"What? What was it?" Apa'chee asked, the tension in his stomach from the anticipation of knowing bubbling up inside.

"An egg," Kai spoke softly. "The egg, the egg of myth, the egg of destiny."

"What can an egg do to save the world?" Apa'chee asked. He had been expecting something more exciting, like an ancient weapon or something that could just make the Pokémon stop fighting.

"You just don't get it Apa'chee!" Kai shouted startling the young Pokémon. "This egg was created by the legendary Pokémon themselves to put a stop to the war for which ever side claims it first! The Pokémon that was created within the egg was to be blessed with incredible power unrivaled by no other. This Pokémon was prophesized to have the power to eliminate thousands upon thousands of entire battle fleets in a single attack, fly higher than the heavens above, and walk on water itself! This Pokémon….. was you Apa'chee."

Time seemed to stand still, as Apa'chee's mind tried fervently to process and reprocess the information that had just been suddenly forced upon it. He had gone deaf to everything around him, and the color from the world before him seemed to be ebbing away from existence itself, replaced with everlasting darkness.

It wasn't possible. There was no way it could possibly be true. Kai had to be wrong; he just had to be mistaken. The Pokémon who had hatched from the Egg of Destiny was _him. _This had to be some sick joke because Apa'chee was about to vomit just thinking about it. Was this the reason he dreamed about Pokémon he didn't know? That he was attacked by Pokémon seeking the great power he supposedly _had_.

For a brief moment Apa'chee was almost certain he had fallen back into Vendetta's Nightmare Realm; because everything that was happening right now seemed to be a nightmare conjured up from the bowels of his mind.

"_**Apa'chee!"**_ a voice shouted from somewhere very far away._**"Apa'chee! Apa'chee!"**_ it screamed louder, but seemed even fainter now somehow.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening to him. He was just a normal aipom who just happened to have a grovyle for a brother, and who just happened to be the Pokémon destined to save the Pokémon world from a war amongst it selves.

Life was so unfair sometimes.

A strike to his face from somewhere suddenly tore Apa'chee from the recesses of his mind. He found himself laying sprawled eagle in the grass looking up into the panicked face of Kai, and calm face of Sasha.

"Told you an iron tail to the face would do it," Sasha told Kai.

"You could have knocked his head off!" Kai shouted at Sasha, inspecting the large bruise on Apa'chee's face.

Strangely he barely felt the blow to his face, as Kai help him to a sitting position where he could better inspect his face.

"Wha-What happened?" he asked groggily to the grovyle and espeon.

"You had a seizure of some sorts and collapsed to the ground," Sasha stated coming to stand on the other side of him. "I, with my quick thinking exerted a small amount of force to snap you out of it."

"What!" Kai raged angrily. "You nearly sent him into a coma with that iron tail of yours. I fear for the lives of your future children."

Sasha frowned sourly at Kai and turned her attention back to Apa'chee.

"A few Oran Berries should reduce the swelling," she said gesturing to the now large noticeable black and blue bruise on his face. "Sorry if it hurts, but I was looking for a chance to finally try out my iron tail and thought 'why not.'

Kai shook his head at the Espeon in despair, and looked Apa'chee directly in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he stated, his eyes clouding up with remorse. "I knew it was too soon to tell you the truth, but did anyway. I knew you were too young to hear this yet, I just knew it."

Apa'chee wanted to tell Kai that it was no big deal and that he would handle it, but he was currently having trouble working his mouth at the moment.

"Oh great, you've probably broken his jaw Sasha," Kai said frowning while examining Apa'chee now loose mouth.

"A few Oran berries probably should put him right," she said.

"Not if he can't move his mouth!" Kai barked at the espeon who only grinned sheepishly.

Apa'chee watched silently as Kai and Sasha bickered back and forth. It was a nice interruption from his the thoughts currently spinning round and round through his head.

"I think its time we go before Sasha gives someone _else _a concussion," Kai said scooping Apa'chee up into his arms. "We a bit of a journey ahead of us, and I'd liked to get to base before lunch time so we can get Apa'chee some medical attention."

"Right," Sasha said nodding in reply.

Brunching their legs up, both Kai and Sasha rocketed into the treetops above, and began their long path to the Black Corps base. As Kai jump from tree branch to tree branch, Apa'chee felt himself being lulled softly to sleep for what he welcomed hopefully, as a brief escape from the tedious trials before him.

**A/N: And that ends our first arc of the egg of destiny. Not sure when I'll update next time because I'm currently focusing on two other fics I have planned, one for the Warriors fandom, and the other I already have posted on the site called 'A Vexed Heart' and want to get one or both of them off the ground before I return back to Egg of Destiny. So until next time dear readers, R&R, and happy new year from yours truly**

**-Lightning of the West**


	7. Chapter 6: Survival Training 101

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

**A/N: Special thanks to Blazengirl410 for the character, and oh yeah I'm back so enjoy**

The dark corridor echoed loudly with the incoming approach of a large figure. Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he sped toward the large forbidding overhead of a large tunnel burning with light at the end. It had taken much longer than he originally thought to get his wounds tended too, something which Kai noted had held him up several minutes later than he had planned coming the meeting, a fact he knew the others wouldn't be very pleased to know, as they all hated waiting any longer then needed.

As he approach the burning light he was greeted with the sight of a large cavern that sloped circular around the entire room, to which brought his attention to the large, long brown ornate table in the very middle of it, crowed by a gathered assortment of hulking masses. The atmosphere around the table was tense. All around it was a perfectly lined silhouette of silent Pokémon sitting expectantly.

As Kai's eyes grew accustomed to the light his attention was drawn to the small lithe silhouette of a creature that lay levitating motionless in midair at the very end of the table clearly illuminated by the roaring fire blazing from the typholison seated on its right side. Glancing around the gallery of assorted faces, Kai quickly spotted his empty seat near the end of the table where the motionless figure hovered and quickly took the seat on its left.

As he took his seat Kai couldn't help, but notice a few scowling faces glancing at his way, and he returned them all the favor with a cocky grin which caused them to look away grumbling under their breathe. Well, he hadn't expected everyone to be overjoyed at his returned, but it was always nice to antagonize them a bit for succeeding where they all thought he'd horribly fail at.

"Let the meeting begin," the booming voice of Coal the typholsion murmured.

There was a slight shuffle of feet as everyone at the table turned their attention to Coal.

The giant typholsion bowed its head in thought for a brief second before addressing the table. "A few hours ago the child formally known, as the egg of destiny was safely deposited to our base." There were a few murmurs and squeaks of joy from various Pokémon, as Coal paused. "However it is unfortunate that I must admit that we no longer have the object of surprise on our hand, as the Magimom Clan it seems from their attack of Kai and the child that they know of his true identity."

Kai glanced around the table at the surprised look on several of the inhabitants face. He had been just, as surprised if not more when he was attacked by Nightmare and Boulder, confirming his suspicions of earlier from Apa'chee's dreams that the Magimom had found them out.

"If it had not been for the timely interference of, Sasha, who had been sent to fetch Kai and the child, we very well may have sentenced the Pokémon world to death."

Near the left corner of the table Sasha stood a little taller with her head held high, as she received murmurs of praise and pats of congratulations from the seated table much to Kai's great annoyance. It seemed to matter not that he had risked his own life for the past five months keeping Apa'chee safe, only that Sasha had been there to save the day on his one screw up.

"And now," Coal's voice boomed throughout the room "With the child finally in safe hands we can now get down to business." Coal let his words soak in around the room a moment before continuing with. "With how the war's been going for us and everyone else, I feel one hundred percent sure with the full backing of the Pokémon League that it's the right time to truly get started on the boy's training."

"He won't do it," Kai immediately spoke out drawing the attention of the others."Unlike the rest of you, who he's never even met, he trusts me, and unless I personally condoned his training he'll refuse all your advancements to teach him."

Coal turned sharply towards Kai fixing him with a burning glare, although Kai wasn't sure if it was a true glare or just Coal's usual facial expression before growling menacingly. "Kai, you've done your part by teaching the boy the bare basics, but if he plans on saving anyone its far time that he learns what it truly means to fight, no matter how he or _**you**_may feel about it."

"If you think you can just ignore my instructions, and force him to train you'll be violating the humans instructions of not to treat him as a weapon!"Kai shot back, immediately standing up with his fists clinched.

Immediately after the outburst, Coal's back suddenly blazed violently as he took to his feet, towering menacingly over the seated Pokémon, an irate expression on his face. The Pokémon seated immediately tensed at the tension coming from the two standing Pokémon before Sasha had the sense to help cut the rising tension between the two, with "So tell us Kai what would you have us do to get Apa'chee to agree?"

At the sound of Sasha's voice Kai momentarily relaxed just enough to fix the entire table with a hard stare before announcing out loud."First and foremost if you insist on putting him through this training then I want to choose who teaches him."

The request seemed innocent and sensible enough to the round table of Pokémon, but the already irate Coal was quick to respond sarcastically with."And who pray tell would that be?"

Kai took a deep breath. This was the sketchiest part of his plan, and as he uttered the name from his lips he immediately knew it wouldn't be very well received.

"Thunderblade."

A hushed silence felled across the table. There were many shocked expressions; the majority of the Pokémon looking like Kai had just slapped them in the face, with some even glancing uneasily at an unoccupied spot at the table. Well it certainly hadn't gone over as worse as he thought. He more or less expected for them all to be roaring at him in outrage.

"Excuse me," a roserade spoke up. "I'm not one here to judge Kai, but are you completely insane!"

Kai sighed inwardly. Well so much for the hope of a civilized conservation. There were always going to be critics to even the best of ideas, but this was something he had to put emphasis on.

"Trust me Karoo," he told the roserade. "I know what I'm doing."

_"This coming from the Pokémon who nearly set off a mine shaft full of electrodes,"_ Sasha's snide voice echoed telepathically throughout his mind causing him to through a glare at her. "Kai," she spoke out loud. "I know you and Thunderblade are 'good friends', but I assumed from how you fussed over Apa'chee like a mother to her kit that you actually cared for his well being?"

"I do, and that's why I've chosen Thunderblade to teach him. He's the best choice, and I'd trust my own life to him."

"But what about the lives of millions of Pokémon!" Coal roared. "You may trust Thunderblade with your life, but we don't with the lives of the entire Pokémon world at stake."

"I know what I'm doing," Kai spoke calmly to the irritate fire type. "And anyway Coal, it's not up to you to decline my choice, its Ghost's."

Almost immediately everyone turned their attention to the motionless Pokémon who had remained silent the entire discussion.

Coal's eyes shifted across every ones curious expression, and with a low bow of the head to the motionless figured, addressed it with. "What say you then Ghost? Shall we allow Thunderblade to be entrusted with the training of the child?"

A shinning aura of glowing white light suddenly began to emit from the halo above Ghost the shedinja, and with a pulse like push of power flashed throughout the chamber momentarily blinding its occupants. When the light died Ghost was no longer in its original position at the end of the table, but now currently positioned directly in the startled face of Kai.

_"If Thunderblade is allowed to tutor the child can you guarantee his safety?"_ asked the dead monotone voice of Ghost's emitting from its shell.

Kai, still surprised (and creeped out) to suddenly be staring face to face with the shedinja was a bit slow on the uptake before replying moments later firmly with."Absolutely. Thunderblade's methods maybe unconventional, but he has the kind of knowledge and skill Apa'chee needs if he's going to be of any help in this war."

Suddenly Ghost's halo once began to emit a blinding aura which forced Kai to immediately cover his eyes back up. When the light was gone Ghost now lay at the side of Coal, and from the way he seemed to be nodded towards Ghost, Kai assumed the bug ghost type was currently speaking to him.

"Very well," Burn suddenly spoke out turning his attention to the entire table. "Thunderblade will be assigned as the child's mentor, and head all his training in the upcoming two days."

"Wait what!" Kai shouted in shocked. "Two days! There was no way Apa'chee will be in any condition for what Thunderblade had in store."

"Yes, Kai," Burn said with a burning glare. "I have already talked to the orderlies, and the child will be in fighting shape tomorrow."

"But that's too soon," Kai argued stoutly. "Apa'chee's only just got here; you can't expect him to go from one battle field to the next in a six hour radius!"

"Only because you had gained Ghost's favor in the boy's training was the only reason I have already agreed to allow Thunderblade as the boy's mentor," Burn spoke firmly. "I will allow no further interferences from you Kai, and just to make sure that you can't cause any more trouble, you will be shipped out tomorrow on assignment."

Kai flexed his claws threateningly only seeing red in front of him for the moment. If he attacked Coal not only would he ruin his chance to keep an eye on Apa'chee's progress, but he risked being expelled from the group. With a low growl he relaxed his stance, and let his arms fall limp to his sides.

"I understand," he growled, head bowed in defeat.

Coal's eyes seemed to blaze brightly in triumph, as he studied Kai for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the table. "In the coming day you will all be shipped out on your various assignments, and missions. I advise you to get a good nights rest for the coming day because you all will be gone for an extended amount of time. Meeting adjourned."

'Just got back a few hours ago, and already I'm being shipped out like some mindless solider,' Kai brooded to himself. He only hoped that he'd be able to give Apa'chee a proper goodbye before he left.

As the table of Pokémon began to fill out of the room Sasha sent Kai a telepathic message.

_"I hope you know what you're doing Kai; for Apa'chee's sake."_

And although Kai would never voice his opinions out into the open, he secretly prayed that he did also, and hopefully after it was all said and done Apa'chee would not hate him after this was all over.

(Scene Break)

Apa'chee was in heaven.

Since arriving to the Black Corps base of operation, he had more or less been practically treated like royalty; and he wasn't complaining one bit. After the hectic day he'd been through the young Aipom gladly took all the food, care, and attention being given to him by the chansey nurses with a big smile. He actually had a bed; A REAL bed at that. He'd only ever heard of the square white squishy mattresses from Kai, and his various stories of interaction with humans. If this was what humans got to sleep on every night of their lives, Apa'chee couldn't help but see a bit why a few Pokémon maybe jealous of them.

The room was largely spacious, which left Apa'chee with little fear of being enclosed, with white washed windows, a large window that was currently open and blowing in some unknown fruity concoction that seemed to greatly appeal to his nose. If he hadn't been awake when Kai and Sasha had brought him in the previous day then he'd never believe that he was currently residing in the side of a mountain.

Apa'chee was currently enjoying some strange, but greatly delicious human food called creamy ice, given to him from one of the chansey's. The creamy ice was extremely cold, and had given Apa'chee what he'd deemed a frozen brain when he'd tried to gobble it all up in a few bites. After having to be given an Aspear berry for the pain he found out that if he gradually ate it slowly then he wouldn't be afflicted by the frozen brain.

As he sat on his bed enjoying the treat, his ears immediately perked up at the sound of incoming footsteps. Now usually he wouldn't have paid this any mind, as it was most of the time just one of the nurses come to check up on him, but this particular brand of footsteps had been hardwired into the middle of his brain, and he immediately looked up excited towards the door way, as Kai entered the room.

"How's my favorite purple ape," he said grinning coming to stand by Apa'chee's bed.

"Amazing," he replied grinning widely. "This creamy ice is amazing, but it gives massive frozen brains."

Kai chuckled lightly, as ruffled the tuft of hair on top of Apa'chee's head fondly. "I think you mean ice cream and brain freeze Apa'chee," the grovyle responded. "So how's your time in the infirmary been?"

"Well the nurses are really nice," Apa'chee said while thinking. "I've got a lot of room to move around during the day, and plenty of fresh air from the window."

"Well that's good," Kai said his voice trailing off slightly which did not go by unnoticed by the observant purple Pokémon.

"So how did the meeting go last night?" he asked Kai in what he hoped was his best imitation of innocence.

He had overheard a few of the nurses whispering about it when they thought he was asleep last night, and Apa'chee was no less then positive that it had concerned him. Kai didn't seem that too surprised that Apa'chee knew about the meeting, on the contrary it seemed from how he sure he looked at him that he had expected Apa'chee to bring it up.

"I really wish I can say it went the way I wanted it to the go, but sometimes you don't always get what you want," Kai told him.

"That bad, huh?" Apa'chee asked offering him some ice cream. One of the nurses had once told him that humans sometimes ate ice cream to relieve stress or sadness.

"You can say something like that," Kai said dipping a finger in the ice cream to then lick off of.

"So when's my first battle out on front lines?" Apa'chee asked sarcastically.

Kai grinned at him before taking another finger swipe of ice cream. "Thankfully I was able to convince them not to draft you directly into battle as a head general, but for now you've been instructed to partake in training during the mean time.

"Well it isn't as bad as I thought," Apa'chee told Kai. "And besides the more training I get the stronger I get. So when are we going out to train?"

Kai suddenly glanced uneasily at him before quickly averting his gaze out the window; something that immediately sent red lights going off in Apa'chee's head.

"Kai?" he asked the grovyle leaning over in the bed to come face to face with him. "What aren't you telling me?"

Kai sighed deeply with his eyes never leaving the window, as he told Apa'chee. "I'm being sent out on assignment today Apa'chee and I don't know when I'll be back."

Apa'chee's eyes suddenly widened in shocked at what he was being told.

"You're abandoning me alone here?" he asked his voice slightly cracking.

"No!" Kai suddenly shouted training to look at him. "No I'm not abandoning you Apa'chee. I would have gladly trained you myself if I'd had the possibility of it happening, but I've more or less been shipped out against my will, and wont be here to watch over you like I used to do.

It wasn't fair, Apa'chee thought. Why after all he had been through now did Kai have to be striped unfairly away from him? He slumped back miserably onto the bed with his tail hanging limply off the edge of the bed. Ever since he'd found out he was the Pokémon destined to save the world, it seemed like nothing had been going right for him ever since.

"Hey cheer up," Kai said in an attempt to make him feel better. "We probably won't be that too long apart from each other, and you'll have your training to keep you occupied until the mean time."

Suddenly at these words something seemed to click in Apa'chee's head. Looking up to face Kai he asked him the question that several hours from now he would come to regret greatly.

"So then, if you're not going to be my teacher, then who is?"

Kai smiled nervously at him. "An old of my friend, but one I'm afraid to say isn't exactly what you would call a teacher.

"Who is he?"

"Well, his name is Thunderblade, and it safe to say that he's a raichu."

"Thunderblade?" Apa'chee asked confused. "That cant really be his name, is it?"

Kai smiled slightly before answering. "Well, he prefers it that everyone calls him by that codename since he does a lot of undercover spy work for the Corps, and would rather stay anonymous."

Not surprisingly this didn't sit well with Apa'chee immediately. How could he expect to trust some strange new Pokémon to tutor him when he didn't even know his real name?

Seeing the tense look on Apa'chee's face Kai tried to quickly diffuse the situation. "Look Apa'chee I know you maybe feeling a little apprehensive to the whole idea of some stranger teaching you, but I trust Thunderblade with my own life, and know he wont do anything too severely to hurt you."

The words, 'too severely,' immediately shot red alerts off in Apa'chee's head seconds before Kai realized his mistake.

"Wait do you mean, too severely, Kai?" he asked. "What is this guy planning on doing to me?"

Kai sighed inwardly at his own dumb mistake. He was hoping he didn't have to alert Apa'chee to Thunderblade's, shall we say, 'questionable,' training tactics, but it seemed unavoidable now.

"Thunderblade doesn't exactly have the best reputation around here, as being a very sensible person among the others. Don't get me wrong now, he's a real cheerful guy who's good at his job, and very charismatic, but as far as the others are concerned he's a bit of screw loose, loose cannon really to blow."

"Oh, great just my luck," Apa'chee said rolling his eyes clearly annoyed. "Out of all the Pokémon you could have gotten to tutor me, you get this nutcase of a guy who nobody here clearly trusts to screw in a light bulb."

"Yeah, that sounds about a right description of Thunderblade," Kai said grinning fondly. Suddenly he rose out the bed, and turned to Apa'chee with a burning stare. "Listen to me now clearly Apa'chee. I've already said that I trust Thunderblade with my life, but not necessarily yours. He at times can get caught up in the moment of things, and get very carried away with things, so I implore in you sternly that you don't drop your guard around him for a second. You may not live very long to regret it in the end."

Apa'chee wasn't sure how exactly he was suppose to process this information, but for all his charging he some how found a way to have faith in Kai's choice of choosing this guy, Thunderblade, as his teacher. Kai then suddenly turned to leave the room before Apa'chee caught on to what was going on.

"Wait, your leaving."

"Yeah, sorry about this," Kai spoke kneeling down to place a hand on top of his head. "I'm not the best at goodbyes Apa'chee so I'll just say that I hope you take care of your self, and do everything Thunderblade tells you… no matter how strange or life threatening it maybe."

Apa'chee stared worriedly at Kai. Everything it seemed was speeding by in a flash, and Kai wasn't an exception to this rule. He wasn't exactly sure how he'd managed without Kai's helpful presence near him, but he had to be strong for him so he wouldn't be worrying so much about him.

Suddenly to his surprise Kai embraced him tightly in a hug that he was too surprise to return. "Be strong, be safe, and be your own Pokémon Apa'chee, no matter what someone else may lead you to believe." And with that brief message Kai released him, and quickly fled down the corridor and out of sight, leaving Apa'chee feeling more alone then he had in a very long time.

(Scene Break)

"Hi there, I'm Thunderblade!"

Apa'chee stared wide eyed in awe at the very large goofy smiling battle scarred raichu that stood before him. He'd learned all that you'd ever need to know about raichu's from Kai, but there was just something about this one that seemed odd.

"So you must be Apa'chee then, huh? Kai's told me some very interesting stories about you, and I'm eager to found out if they're true."

Apa'chee wasn't sure if he was joking or dead serious; that large goofy smile of his kind of threw everything he said off into a confusing loop. It also didn't help that during their little talk that Kai had told him Thunderblade wasn't the most well balanced member of the Black Corps.

"So you're going to be teacher for now on then?" Apa'chee asked timidly.

"Either until you've learned all that I can teach you, or one of us dies." Thunderblade said with a chuckle.

'Well, things are certainly going well in my favor today,' Apa'chee thought worriedly. He would probably be at more ease with the raichu if he just stopped smiling. Really, it was beginning to actually creep him out.

"So," Apa'chee begin trying to get their first meeting started on a good term, "What exactly do you plan to teach me."

Thunderblade looked down at him with his lopsided grin. "That, my little purple friend is a surprise, but before we set off I have to go over our supplies again."

What Apa'chee had failed to notice earlier was that Thunderblade was carrying a large brown sack on his shoulder. The raichu tossed it from off his shoulder for it to land on the floor with its contents of golden seeds spilling onto the floor.

"Whoa, what are all those seeds for?"

Thunderblade looked at him with a half glance and smirked. "They're called Reviver Seeds, a greatly rare and valuable tool used out on the battlefield that believe it or not is used to bring Pokémon back from the brink of death, even fully healing their bodies and replenishing their strength."

"Wow," Apa'chee said in awe. "So if these things are so valuable and rare why are you bringing so many with you?"

The raichu gave him a small wink before answering with."Well I can't just have you going and dying on me now can I?"

"What!" Apa'chee shouted jumping back startled. He couldn't actually be serious?

The raichu merely chuckled at his disgruntled appearance, and reverted back to his original task of sorting through the various objects before him. The aipom stood there unsure what to do or say. Thunderblade's comment had set him off, and he was now only too surprised to recount Kai's earlier warning of watching his step around the raichu. Slowly but surely, the grovyle's message was starting to set alarms off in the young Pokémon's mind.

"Well I think that ought to be enough supplies for our little trip don't you think?" Thunderblade asked him, as he began to load the pile of seeds up back into the large sack on his side. Speaking of trips, there was one thing Apa'chee had been meaning to ask the raichu.

"So, exactly where are we going?"

"That, my dear aipom is also a surprise," Thunderblade told Apa'chee while flashing that same goofy smile of his, as he threw the sack over his shoulder.

Apa'chee looked in confusement at Thunderblade trying to decipher exactly what kind of surprise this place could be. The next thing he asked him would be another question he would regret later on when he found himself waking up in a barren battle scarred forest.

"Can you give me a hint?"

If it was possible Thunderblade's smile suddenly grew wider, and with a wink sent a blast of electricity hurtling straight at him which immediately knocked Apa'chee out on impact.

(Scene Break)

His head was killing him, and for that matter his body wasn't feeling all that hot right about now either. A loud escaped Apa'chee's mouth, as he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position while holding his pounding head. He felt like he had been hit by a tauros, but without the side effects of having broken bones. He glanced around him slightly to realize that he was no longer in the sanctity of the Black Corps base.

Before lay nothing, but of what he assumed had once been a forest, but was badly torn from battle, and now only resembled that of a desert. Apa'chee stood warily to his feet looking around for some source of life. Sadly beside that of a few measly stick like trees, it appeared he was out here alone. This was just great Apa'chee thought grumpily to himself. The first five minutes in which he's alone with Thunderblade, and the guy not only zaps him, but then deposits him off into some barren land that seemed to stretch on forever which ever way he turned.

Boy, Kai sure knew how to pick friends.

All of a sudden a stab of something, Apa'chee didn't know what, maybe anticipation, suddenly screamed inside of his mind to move, and at the very last second as Apa'chee jumped back, his previous spot suddenly erupted into a cloud of dirt, as Thunderblade emerged from the ground.

Apa'chee could only gape in surprise, as the raichu suddenly drew back a fist a through a punch which he easily dodged.

"Hey what's the big idea!" he shouted quickly ducking a kick aimed at his head. "What are you doing? Stop attacking me!"

Thunderblade didn't let up on the attacks. Smiling wildly he threw a punch directly at Apa'chee's face which he just nearly dodged. Okay, now he was starting to get angry. If Thunderblade wanted to fight so badly then Apa'chee would give him what he wanted.

Quickly dodging another blow to the face, Apa'chee began charging power up in his hand like tail, and with a jump in the air to create distance between him and Thunderblade launched a swift attack that hit the electric type head on creating a cloud of dust.

As Apa'chee waited for the dust to clear he suddenly blinked in surprised to see Thunderblade standing there totally unscathed, smiling even wider then before now.

"Your swift attack needs a lot of improvement if you ever planning to cause much of a threat in battle, I barely even felt a thing," he told Apa'chee while still smiling which seemed to stretched the scars that adorned his face painfully.

"What do you mean?" Apa'chee shouted at him still mad about being blindsided. "Why did you attack me, and what is this place?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Thunderblade asked him with a chuckle. "This your training Apa'chee. Welcome to the once great Safarii zone of the Kanto region, and your lesson for the day; survival 101."

"Survival 101?" Apa'chee said confused. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Thunderblade shook his head with a chuckle while still smiling. "How naïve you young ones are. Before you can go around trying to save the world from war you have to know how to keep yourself alive kid; and I've found out from constant years in the field that someone only ever shows you their real potential when their life's at stake."

"Wait a minute," Apa'chee said as the blood immediately drained from his face at the realization of something terrible. "Are you telling me you're going to try to kill me?"

The sight of Thunderblade's smile getting even larger then it was before should have told Apa'chee all he needed to know. "Bingo buddy."

And with that he suddenly disappeared before Apa'chee's very eyes to immediately materialize right in front of him, and deliver a mega kick that seemed to make Apa'chee's entire body structure cave in on itself.

PAIN. That was the only word he could think of to describe the feeling at the moment. Absolutely and undenying bone shattering pain. Apa'chee's vision immediately with blurry, as he fought off the darkness of conciseness. There was no other way then to explain the kick, then that it felt he had been hit by a thick wooded tree. The exact moment he gasped for air is when his chest suddenly flared and crammed together. For a brief moment he blacked out, but fought his way away from the darkness and back to the waking surface. He lay there, in a kneeling position gasping in agony.

From the nearby distance he could feel the curious gaze of Thunderblade on his person, making him shake horribly. Apa'chee knew what he was doing, it was only too clear. He wanted to see if the fabled Pokémon of destiny would be able to stand back up from one of his best kicks, and he hated him for it. He hadn't asked for this destiny, he didn't ask to be put through this hell of training, but most importantly he didn't want to give the smug Raichu the pleasure of seeing him kneeled before him like some weak and stupid child; and that was what drove him to his feet.

"What do you know?" Thunderblade replied at the now barely standing aipom. "You're a lot tougher then I gave you credit for kid; I like that, but can you get back up from this?"

The raichu suddenly disappeared from view, and it took Apa'chee's mind only a few seconds to figure out what was going on. The strike came faster then Apa'chee could have ever anticipated, but at the very last moment he was just able to activate a quick burst of agility to only take a glancing blow to the shoulder. Immediately after that he retreated several feet away from the crazed Raichu only to wince as a sparkle of electricity bit at his side.

"Not bad," Thunderblade complimented him. "Not bad at all kid, you're finally learning how to react under pressure which is a good thing since that last move I was kind of aiming for your neck."

A brief shudder rippled across Apa'chee's body as he defiantly stood his ground. He couldn't let Thunderblade's taunts get to him. He was a master of not only physical, but mental abuse, and if Apa'chee wanted to make it alive to see the sunrise the next day he'd need to be on his game.

"If you want to survive to see the next year then you have to treat every battle like its your last. If the other sides capture and find out that you refuse to help them then your either as good as dead or some mindless brainwashed weapon. You have to become stronger, and start to look at the bigger picture of what's going on here. If the Pokémon world has any chance of surviving this war they're going to need you at your best, and so far for being consider the so called Pokémon of destiny, I'm rather disappointed. I half expected you to be ripping full grown trees from the ground and hurling them at me or something of that concept."

"What do you want from me?" Apa'chee shouted. "Look I don't know what this prophecy of whatever you've all heard say, but there's nothing special about me. I can't do any of the amazing things that you all assume of me, I'm just a five month old Aipom caught in the middle of something that the world can't seem to handle itself."

Thunderblade was silent for many moments, quietly studying the aipom before answering with. "Well if that's the case then Apa'chee I don't see much reason in keeping you alive then."

"What!" Apa'chee shouted immediately back away from the raichu.

"You heard me," Thunderblade replied rolling his shoulders. "If your nothing, but a big fake then you're not much use to anyone now are you?"

Suddenly electricity began to sparkle and crackle all around the raichu's body, as he fixed the aipom with a some what sympathetic look.

"I'll try to break your death as easy as I can to Kai for you, but for now I think its time for you to go."

Thunder boomed overhead as the sky now began to fill and cover itself in dark clouds while lightning now streak back and forth across the sky. Apa'chee tried desperately to get as far away from the raichu as possible, but his body seemed unable or either unwilling to move. He couldn't believe it. He was actually about to die here, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

"Let the cleansing force of lightning erase your existence," Thunderblade howled menacingly across the blowing wind.

And in that instant the raichu's form disappeared in a blinding light of electricity, and Apa'chee's mind left his body as a bolt of lightning struck him.

Is it possible to watch yourself, as your dying? Apa'chee didn't know the answer for sure, but from his current position in the sky he was pretty sure that he was watching the disintegration of his own body right before his eyes. He didn't want to die; who very well did? But what was there that he could mentally do to stop this.

He felt sick to his stomach as his prone body now lay several feet in the air propelled by the devastating force of electricity that now coursed through his body. He'd never see Kai again, never be able to enjoy the joyful brightness of the forest, or even be able to enjoy a stroll through the forest with Kai, and he hated it. He hated that this was even happening. It wasn't fair, why was he being put through this. Because he was some prophesized savior of the Pokémon world? Well fine then, if the world wanted its savior they'd get it, but not in the way they wanted.

Apa'chee forced his body into a ball. A tight compact ball of fur that now resembled a small sun, and he let the electricity overtake him. Not to kill himself, but to absorb it and make it his own. He could feel the millions of tiny tidbits of electrified electrons merge with the cells of his body, and when he couldn't stand to take anymore he focused on the only other available source of living tissue, and let loose on it.

The look of surprise on Thunderblade's face, as the bolt of electricity that was originally attacking Apa'chee suddenly split and redirected its way to him in Apa'chee's opinion was simply priceless.

Thunderblade completely taken off guard took the full extent of the attack, and was lifted off the ground several feet into the air before crashing back down into the ground creating a small crater. Having extinguished the last of the usable amount of electricity Apa'chee body flopped limply to the ground completely numb. It was a small price to pay for what he had just done to Thunderblade he reasoned with a large grin, but it would be a couple of hours at the most before he got any feeling back into his body.

A nearby groan alerted Apa'chee to the small crater that was currently the residing place of Thunderblade. From his position sprawled out on the ground, he was shocked in awe as he watch the battered form of Thunderblade emerge from the hole.

"Well that was fun," the raichu laughed making his way unsteadily out of the hole. "I have to say Apa'chee, although I was hoping you'd do something along the lines of this even I was surprised to be hit by a returning thunderbolt."

Thunderblade stood shakily on his feet, as the addressed the aipom with a new found sense of admiration.

"I can tell me and you are going to have a lot of fun together," and with that closing statement Thunderblade slumped to ground unconscious leaving Apa'chee debating whether or not he should have just let him kill him to not see what crazy training he had planned for him next.


	8. Chapter 7: Down to Business

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon **

Was getting stronger really worth the risk of getting killed by some psychotic raichu? Did he actually have the heart to continue this training if things got rough? Could he truly and finally cast away his fear of failure and become the hero the world believed he was?

These thoughts and more ran rampant through Apa'chee's mind as he dangled precariously from a small ledge on the mountain he was currently climbing.

One week straight of training out here in the barren wilderness with Thunderblade had led Apa'chee to this. Gritting his teeth in concentration, the young ape grabbed hole of a nearby foot hole with his tail-hand and pulled himself up.

Gallons of sweat pooled down his face drenching his fur, as he swung up to grab another piece of rock. Glancing up briefly he saw with a groan that he had nearly another sixty feet of craggy cliff to climb before he arrived at the top.

With a violent spew of curses about a certain raichu, he then continued on his high trek up to the top.

Today was the day, he kept telling himself. Today was the day when Thunderblade would finally teach him attack techniques. Or so he said. It had been a hard long road as of now for the young aipom, and he had continued on strongly, but even he had to admit Thunderblade may have topped his own craziness with climbing this craggy mountain.

Even when he wasn't personally trying to kill him his self, it seemed that Thunderblade was never at a lost for coming up with dangerous tasks that endangered his life. Although he did have to admit it was better then having Thunderblade burry him alive again, Apa'chee knew he was way in over his head.

Since the first day when he had attempted to kill him, Thunderblade had then proceeded on to test the full limitations of Apa'chee's being in a wacky assortment of test and trials. On every occasion he had barely walked away alive with a badly battered body. If it wasn't for Thunderblade's sack full of reviver seeds and Oran berries he probably wouldn't had made it past the first day.

The glare of the sun's rays was beating down heavily on his exposed back. For one crazed moment Apa'chee could have sworn he actually smelt the burning hairs of his fur, but just as quickly he dismissed it as his own growing paranoia.

Paranoia. Yeah, he had been experiencing a lot of that lately. If anything he had to thank Thunderblade for it. His electric mentor had left Apa'chee in much of a jittery state these past few days, and he'd been suffering for it mentally.

He'd now lost count on the numerous times a night he would wake up startled from some various nightmare involving the crazed electric type. And with the daily threat of his life at stake on some battle training Thunderblade twisted mind had concocted, Apa'chee was beginning to crack under the pressure.

His paws shook as he tried to hold on to the narrows ledges. The strain from continuously pulling himself up had the muscles in his legs and arms on fire, but still he held steady. Ignoring his exhausted muscles, he pulled his lithe frame up, and with a final grunt of exertion gripped the last edge of the ledge and hurled himself over to the flat top of the mountain.

He lay there completely spent, mouth wide open gasping for air. It had taken him all morning, but he had done it, he had made it to the top.

"Two hours and twenty-six minutes," a voice called out somewhere above him. "A hour short of my original goal, but hey you're learning."

Apa'chee turned his attention upward to see Thunderblade hovering over him. As always he was wearing his usual lopsided grin that seemed to let on that he was in on some big joke that Apa'chee didn't know about.

"Up and at'em Apa'chee were wasting daylight," he said waiting impatiently for him to rise to his feet.

With a grimace of pain he pulled himself shakily to his feet, pausing briefly to dust some debris out of his fur. Casting a quick look around the area he saw that the mountain he and Thunderblade currently lay resting at the top of was actually a large spacious flat area, with a couple of boulders cluttered around them.

"So what's on the agenda for today, you plan on having me sky diving off the top of the mountain?" Apa'chee asked sarcastically.

"Hmm, not a bad idea?" Thunderblade murmured causing Apa'chee to flinch in fear. "Sadly I didn't plan on doing anything that exciting today, but I thought you would still like to learn a high level battle technique today."

Apa'chee's ears immediately perked up at this.

"Really?" He asked eagerly all sign of fatigue vanishing. "You weren't just screwing with me earlier?"

"Well if it's too boring for your taste we could always go back to your original idea," Thunderblade replied grinning.

"Wha-no, no, no!" Apa'chee shouted frantically waving his arms. "This is exciting enough for me, so what are you planning on teaching me?"

There were many things the young aipom would avoid doing with Thunderblade, but if there was one thing that he could admit to it was that the raichu knew his fair share of battle techniques. He'd found out first hand what the raichu was capable of, and he couldn't wait to be able to send his own enemies flying with a single kick.

Without saying a single word Thunderblade began to pace around, sizing his small form up, as his lightning bolt shape tail twitched behind him.

"I'll be honest Apa'chee," he began "Ever since that day when you redirected my thunderbolt back at me I've been pondering on what attacks you should learn." A small crackle of electricity rippled across Thunderblade, as he came to a stop before Apa'chee. "I could teach you how to fell a tyranitar with a single mega kick, or even topple a raging gyarados with a thunder attack, but for you I've decided on something a bit smaller but just as deadly."

Suddenly electricity began to crackle all around Thunderblade's body, as a bright yellow aura begin to expand and pulse from his body. Apa'chee covered his face with a paw, as the pulsing aura from Thunderblade began whipping dust and debris around them. There had to be over a thousand volts of electricity rippling across Thunderblade's body now, as he lay standing with a satisfied grin on his face.

As Apa'chee lay in awe at the awesome power that coursed across the raichu's body it all turned into surprise a moment later, as the power suddenly vanished from view. In all retrospect it was as if someone had turned it all off with the flip of a switch, leaving a very confused aipom wondering what he had just experienced.

_**BOOM!**_

Apa'chee jumped at the exploding sound of thunder, his fur standing erectly on end, as he watched in awe as Thunderblade suddenly disappeared in a shower of light.

"Thunderblade!" he shouted out, actually for once in his life worried for the safety of the raichu. "Thunderblade!" he cried frantically for the raichu now making a break for the light that had engulfed him. "**THUNDER- BLAAAAAADE!"**

Suddenly the light erupted shinning the entire mountain top in its blinding blaze. Apa'chee closed his eyes tightly at the frightful light show, refusing to open them until he was entirely sure that it was all over. As the seconds ticked by he finally took a chance and peeked his eyes open. What he saw next would have almost certainly made them pop out in shock if they weren't properly stuck in place.

Thunderblade stood before, a golden aura of power shinning magnificently off of him, as his right paw lay crackling in a sparking show of light engulfed by electricity.

"May I introduce you to Thunder punch," he said, face alight in glee.

Apa'chee stood in amazement at the striking scene before him. It was incredible! All that power he had stored up in that big light show was all now encased in that small amount of electricity encasing his fist. If he was actually able to master this, Apa'chee was one hundred percent sure from then on that there wouldn't be a Pokémon alive that could stand up against it.

"This attack is extremely dangerous if not executed perfectly to a T," Thunderblade spoke admiring his new crackling appendage. "One wrong step and you risk the chance of it blowing up in your face, or worse even killing yourself from a misplaced shock of electricity." Apa'chee listened intently to the raichu's warning, subconsciously cataloging it to memory.

"But when used carefully," Thunderblade continued on "You're able to do things like this."

Turning his attention away from Apa'chee, Thunderblade eyed a single large intimidating mass of a boulder that would dwarf a gyarados like it was a Pikachu, and took aim.

Quicker then Apa'chee's eyes could follow, Thunderblade broke into a borderline sprint headed straight for the boulder, and with a loud battle cry hurtled his fist into contact with it.

For a split second nothing happened, and Apa'chee wondered if something had gone wrong. The sound of cracking wood suddenly filled the air, and to Apa'chee's astonishment the large crack appeared in the middle of the boulder, and with a final heave immediately crumbled upon itself.

"Phew!" Thunderblade said walking away from the rubble while shaking his paw. "That was a lot harder then I thought it'd be."

The amount of energy he'd used to perform the thunder punch attack had taken more out of him then he'd expected. Most likely he'd take a small rest break then get on to training Apa'chee how to use it. That was of course his idea, but Thunderblade saw seconds later that those plans would be postponed.

"You. Have. Got. To. Teach. Me. That. Now!" Thunderblade back pedaled in surprise, as a small aipom stood before him with wide eyes, and a giant toothy smile.

"Wha- huh?"

"That. Was. Amazing!" Apa'chee cheered, now running circles around the bewildered raichu. "I mean it was cool, so powerful! You destroyed that giant boulder with a single punch!"

Thunderblade was at a lost for words. Only minutes of ago the kid had been too tired to stand up, and now he was completely replenished full of energy, and raring to go. A small grin broke across his face, as he watched the aipom speed around him.

'This kid is something else.'

"Okay, okay I'll teach you," Thunderblade said chuckling at aipom. "Just slow down for a sec so we can begin."

Apa'chee came to an abrupt before Thunderblade, his entire body tingling in excitement. He almost couldn't believe. For a moment he was tempted to jump for joy, while howling yips of excitement, but held his happiness at bay.

"No way, I'm really going to learn how to use electricity!" Apa'chee laughed out loud much to Thunderblade's amusement.

This was really happening! He almost couldn't keep still at the very thought of it. There were many moves he had always imagined learning, but the ability to actually command electricity had only ever been a sweet fantasy. But it was while he was caught deep in the euphoria of getting the chance at something awesome that he realized something.

"Wait a minute Thunderblade?" Apa'chee said coming to a stop. "How am I supposed to learn how to use thunder punch when I'm not even an electric type?"

"Good, you're learning to think with your mind," Thunderblade complimented on his observance. "I'd been thinking about that myself when I realized something."

Almost if possible, magically appearing from thin air he raised up a silver circular object that Apa'chee recognized as a TM device. Kai had once went over the details of how a TM contained the ability to learn a certain move, and how they were very useful to have among Pokémon trainers.

"I've went over extensively the list of what Pokémon are able to wield the thunder punch, and your species, aipom, are at the top of the list."

"Alright then, I'm ready for it," he stated confidently. How do we do this?"

"As simple as this, watch."

Placing the TM firmly against Apa'chee's forehead, Thunderblade then told him to close him eyes.

"Now I want you to relax Apa'chee," he stated. "When the program begins there's no going back so let go and empty your mind."

He did as he was told and felt himself physically and mentally letting go. Taking deep long breathes, Apa'chee allowed himself to shut everything else out, and delve deep into his own mind.

"_You have requested access to the ability_ TM: _Thunder punch,"_ a soothing female voice echoed throughout his. _"Do you wish to learn TM: Thunder punch?"_

"Uhhh, that would be nice please, yes," he responded to the voice shyly.

"_Process commencing, hold still please."_

Apa'chee wasn't sure what to expect. Would it hurt? Be so painful that he passed out from the exertion on his body? He had a lot of guesses of what may happen, but even he was surprised when he felt his body become immersed in a soothing feeling like being dunked into a cold river.

In a way it was very relaxing to the mind. In all honesty Apa'chee could admit to never feeling so well rested in his, and he was almost sad when it ended.

"_Process completed, ability thunder punch has now been learned."_

Apa'chee opened his eyes to see Thunderblade waiting patiently with his usual lop sided grin to greet him.

"So, how did it go?"

His question was immediately answered with Apa'chee's tail-hand erupting into a burst of electricity, as he returned Thunderblade's grin with one of his own.

"Let's get down to business."

**A/N: And with that we close another chapter. I'd like to thank those of all of you who have read this story up to this point, and hopefully will continue to for many chapters to come. On a side note I'd like to apologize for the long lay off, and also thank those new readers who have come across this story and hope you all will continue to read on and Review this story. Anyway thanks again, from yours truly**

**-Lightning of the West**


	9. Chapter 8: Captured!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon**

Blood, forgotten screams, and destruction.

That was all that remained from the terror that oozed from the chaotic scene. A once lush green meadow full of life and happiness and Pokémon alike, was now a barren wasteland of slaughtered bodies and crushed lives.

It seemed impossible that such a once luxurious place full of life was now seemingly decimated and erased without a trace. All around the scene lay some piece or former appendage belonging to one or another Pokémon, but nothing more recognizable then that.

How was it that all this damage could have possibly been caused by one Pokémon? Sadly it was true enough. Standing in the very middle of the carnage ridden area was a lone soul unrecognizable in his current from being covered by the blood of his victims.

"They're all dead," spoke the young voice gleefully. "Every last one of them is gone forever vanquished from this world into their own personal hell!"

The voice, young as it was, spoke with such joy and vicious glee at the scene before him, which not even its own owner seemed to actually realize just how mad and twisted it sounded. The person itself seemed to be engrossed at the amount of blood that clung to its fur, and relished in the sticky of it between his paws. The power that coursed through his veins, the feeling of the blood soaking his paws, it all felt so invigorating!

The lone figure seemed completely different from the person he had only been mere months ago. Gone was the young child with a colorful face full of love, joy, and innocence. It was now replaced with a pale, devoid of warmth and color face, covered with a twisted maniac grin. His once cleanly kept purple fur was now a thing of the past, clearly unkempt, and stained red in the blood of countless fallen Pokémon. But the most dramatic change of all was his eyes. Originally bright and brimming with happiness, they now only held that dull dead look that only ever seemed to spark at the cause of devastation or destruction. Yes he had become the perfect weapon, the perfect tool for the job.

"Excellent my pet," a dark ominous hissed. "You make your master proud."

Out of the darkened mist that surrounded the area slithered a large towering foe that made its way for the lone figure amassed the deceased.

The child had surpassed even its own expectations for conquest, and it couldn't help but lick its fangs in glee at this fact. The blood plastered child lay motionless at the arrival of his master, behaving exactly like the true tool he was expected to be. Slowly the new arrival curled itself around the child, and hissed softly into its ear with what was an unmistakable chuckle.

"What troubles you child? I thought with your annihilation of this small platoon fleet that you would be a bit more... ahhh shall we say appreciative."

"Its not enough," the child growled prompting its master to blink in surprise.

"Excuse me," it hissed softly "but I don't think I quite heard you correctly."

"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" The child boomed causing its master to skirt away at the sudden outburst. "I still feel the bloodlust! I still feel the need for more! I need more! The stronger the better! Only then will I be completely satisfied in my nourishment of victims!" He spat, his entire body on edge as it now began to emit a dangerous black aura.

The child's master let a small shiver of excitement course through its body at the sight of the aura. The power this child possessed. It was simply intoxicating! Soon, soon! It would all be his. It was all just a matter of time.

"Come Apa'chee," it hissed. "We have a world to conquer."

*********

It took Apa'chee a moment to realize that he was shouting as he woke with a start. He snapped his mouth shut. Sweat poured down his face and into his fur. He took a few gulping breaths before he remembered where he was.

'Thunderblade's campsite,' he realized with a sigh of relief. 'I'm still here.'

He let out a shaky breathe, as he relieved the terrifying dream. It had sure been a while since the last time he'd had one of them. But this one, oh boy this one was something else. He had never truly experienced something of this magnitude or terror even when he had been trapped in Vendetta's Nightmare realm. It was so real, too real for his liking.

So what did it all mean then?

In some form or another all previous dreams he had experienced played out some snippet from the past or what not, but this was something Apa'chee knew had yet to transpire.

"The Pokémon standing in the middle of that crushed field, that was me," he whispered to himself in disgust. "I was actually reveling in the fact that I had killed all those Pokémon."

He shivered inwardly as various parts of the dreams came flying back to him. It was simply horrible. Never before in his entire life had he been more disgusted with himself than now. What kind of monster could actually find joy in the annihilation of countless lives? Apparently it seemed he did, but who was that other Pokémon who arrived shortly after.

He closed his trying to match a name to the species of Pokémon he saw, but drew nothing but a blank for the being that he had known as master.

Yuk! Even the thought of it tasted vile on his tongue. But the Pokémon from this dream he knew him, or maybe her for that matter. It was the same Pokémon from the very last dream he'd had when he was still staying with Kai.

'The Pokémon from the burning chamber, that was it,' he remembered. It had been torturing another Pokémon, a seviper to be exact for failing to accomplish something. And if he had to guess it probably had something to do with him.

Ugh, he hated when didn't have a clue what was going on. It made things exceedingly more difficult for his already hard life. Now more then ever he wished Kai was here to comfort him, but that was impossible seeing as he hadn't seen or heard word from him or anyone else for that matter in over a month now.

Wow it was hard to believe that already a month since he'd been training with Thunderblade. In that short amount of time he was just a bit reluctant to admit that he'd learned ten times more than when he was with Kai. Kai had been right in picking Thunderblade as his teacher. The vast knowledge of battle techniques he possessed was simply baffling. That was not to say that everything he'd been taught was easily learned. He still remembered the day where Thunderblade was teaching him the thunder punch attack, and how he'd struggled immensely to learn it.

(Flashback)

Arrrrrrrgh!

Smoke billowed off of Apa'chee's singing fur, as he lay exhausted on his back.

"Why can't I get this?" He shouted angrily, having failed to successfully execute the thunder punch for a consecutive sixth time.

He'd been going at it all day in an attempt to learn this new attack, but so far he had only accomplished in repeatedly blowing the attack up in his face.

"Keep at it," Thunderblade called from his position a few feet away lounging against a boulder. "I think you're starting to get the hang of it."

Apa'chee scowled at the raichu, as he climbed back to his feet. He really wasn't helping much with his 'HELPFUL' tips. So far all day he'd merely sat on his butt stuffing his face with berries while watching Apa'chee get blown up for the umpteenth time.

"There's. Got. To. Be. A. Easier. Way. Of. Doing. This," he gasped between gaping breathes.

"If it was really that simple would there be really any reason for learning it?" Thunderblade commented while popping a berry into his mouth.

"Well then, why don't you give me an idea of what I'm doing wrong?"

Thunderblade tossed another berry into his mouth slowly taking his time chewing it as Apa'chee waited for an answer.

"Simple," he replied. "Your balance is all off."

"Balance?"

"Yeah your balance," Thunderblade replied. "To correctly execute the move you need to find a balance between the amount of power you put into the attack, and how much power your body can actually stand to exert into it. I will admit that you have the power to perfect the attack, but with such a young body as the one you have now it wouldn't be able to withstand the exertion of power."

Apa'chee nodded his head on in recognition that he understood. So, the only way he'd get the move perfected was tone down the power to a comfortable amount for his body. Doing that would certainly reduce the attack to a weakened form, but there wasn't another plausible way of doing it at the moment.

He planted his feet firmly to the ground, and took a deep breathe concentrating intently.

"Okay, I'm going to give it another try!" He called out to Thunderblade, taking an offensive stance.

"Concentrate," he whispered to himself. "Concentrate on what you have to do Apa'chee, you can do it."

Channeling his power to a calmed state, Apa'chee then let loose a small amount to his tail-hand. Clenching it into a fist his tail-hand began to crackle with electricity.

"Good!" Thunderblade called "Now focus that power into a compressed form and let loose!"

He took a deep breath and did as Thunderblade asked. Slowly but surely the thunder punch began simmering down into a tamed state. Sensing that he could now actually wield the attack, Apa'chee took aim at the largest boulder he could find. Which just by coincidence happened to be where Thunderblade was currently resting.

"Don't even think about it," Thunderblade said with a chuckle. "Not only would the attack not so much as dent this boulder, you'd probably break your little tail."

If Apa'chee had listened to even a bit of Thunderblade's warning he sure didn't seem to heed of it. Planting his feet firmly like he'd seen Thunderblade do, he crouched and then launched himself skyward heading for the boulder.

"That is definitely Kai's little brother," Thunderblade noted grinning widely, as Apa'chee headed straight for him.

BOOM!

"What do you know he did it," Thunderblade grinned, as the boulder he was previously leaning against shattered into complete rubble.

For anyone who happened to pass by that certain mountain top at that pacific time would have sworn that it was raining rock.

Thunderblade rose to his feet while dusting rock debris off himself, as he looked down at the young Pokémon in front of him on his back, grinning back up at him in victory.

"So," Apa'chee called to him, never losing his grin "What's next?"

(End flashback)

Off in the horizon the brief outline of the rising sun could be made out. Apa'chee let out another sigh, as he watched the last dying embers of the fire ebb away. Should he tell probably Thunderblade his dream? It after all had to be pretty important considering who he was; but for some unspecified reason an unknown force was stopping him from going to Thunderblade.

For one reason of another Apa'chee didn't feel exactly comfortable telling the raichu that he'd dreamed of having massacred an entire fleets worth of Pokémon. Or for that matter that he'd done it on the orders of a Pokémon he only registered as master.

It was times at this that he missed Kai more than ever, but as he had told himself earlier he hadn't seen him in over a month. More than anything he just wished he knew how he was doing or at least where he was at this time.

"If Apa'chee could see me now," Kai grumbled to himself while trying to release himself from the webs that currently bind his arms to his body. If things hadn't been going rough enough for our favorite grovyle these past few weeks, well then it was about to get ten times worse.

"Spread out and search!" Kai heard a voice shout from his hiding spot. "He couldn't have gotten far in his current state so spread out and capture him!"

'Aren't I the popular fellow,' Kai thought to himself cursing his luck.

Who would have thought that such a simple assignment of spying on a resistance platoon fleet would turn out so disastrous?

"I've got to be slipping," Kai mumbled to himself while peeking from his hidden position behind a large tree. "I barely even heard that ariados sneak up on me, and now for my troubles I'm stuck like this. Hmph, some legendary must really hate me up there."

Things really weren't going to be going in his favor soon if he couldn't get himself unbind. A simple leaf blade attack would have quickly cut him free, but with the way his arms were positioned on his body at the moment, and leaf blade attack would rip through him instead of the webs.

He gave another tug at the webs trying to break them apart with sheer force, but it proved to be fruitless. Whoever that ariados was he sure knew how to spin a mean web. Kai doubted a machamp with its many arms would be able to tear itself free.

"For now id better move it," he decided quickly taking off in a dash. If he could just get to a safe enough place for the time being then maybe he could come up with a plan.

Kai quickly sprinted through the forest senses wide alert for any incoming attack. The first sign of trouble came quicker than he thought when a bolt of lightning struck through the trees towards him. Wondering briefly how they'd caught on to him so fast Kai swiftly dodged the attack while returning a rapid fire of bullet seeds back in the same direction. Not stopping to see if he made contact with anything, Kai continue of his way knowing his pursers weren't far behind.

Putting a burst of agility on, Kai began to gallop through the forest with swift images of trees and bushes mere blurs of flashes. For the most part it seemed to Kai that no matter where he went he always seemed to end up running away from someone. It was times like this that he reasoned he really needed a vacation.

Suddenly multiple string shots shot out of both corresponding sides of Kai causing him duck and jive his way out of many of them.

"Aim for his feet!" a voice shouted from somewhere out of reach. Immediately after a multiple of seven strings shot headed downward for Kai's feet attempting to trip him up, but he wasn't having any of it. Crouching low suddenly he launched himself out of harms reach to land onto a branch of a tree.

"You'll have to do better to do better then that if you expect to capture me chumps!" he taunted. Immediately after however a sharp flying projectile came shooting out of the woods to embedded itself into the tree trunk next to Kai's head having just grazed him. A small trickle of blood began to pour from the cut on his face, as Kai identified the offending object as a very sharp poison stick.

"If it's any of consolation to you guys I apologize for that chump remark."

In reply a torrent of poison stings began spewing through the tree canopies causing Kai to take off for dear life.

'Eventually one of these guys is going to get lucky and hit me,' he realized, hopping for branch to branch while dodging. 'Well an apology doesn't seem to be the answer for getting me out of this, so what then?'

Out of nowhere a bright blur of something yellow crashed into the side of him knocking him for a loop, and a very good distant out of the tree. Kai landed with a heavy thud to the grassy ground below, and rolled over doubling in pain trying to recover his senses.

"Okay Kai you're pinned down by the enemy, and unable to use majority of your arsenal of attacks, so what do you do?"

"I've got an idea," a voice suddenly spoke from behind him "Why don't you surrender!"

In a shower of leaves of and dirt the bushes from behind Kai burst open, and the tall green form of a scyther stood before him with his scythes pointed at a deadly angle towards his neck. Kai could only groan in defeat at his immediate capture.

"I don't suppose there's much chance of you letting me go is there?" he asked his capturer.

"Not a chance Kai," the scyther replied with a grin.

Crud this really wasn't his day. The scyther knew who he was! If there was one bad thing about being Kai the grovyle was when someone else knew who you were. Especially the enemy; but if that wasn't enough to make him curse his luck, then Kai was in for a huge blow to his already deflated ego.

He was absolutely fuming by now. There he was, Kai a member of the Black Corps organization bound together having just been caught by….. junior resistance trainees.

"I don't believe it," squeaked the tiny voice of a small Pikachu. "We caught him. We actually caught him!"

"Do you guys know what this means for our ranking in the Resistance!" clicked the ariados who had bind him. "This is a first class capture of one of the resistances most wanted criminals. We'll get an automatic promotion to the main core for this!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves!" suddenly snapped the tall scyther who had captured him. "Even bound together that grovyle is still a deadly adversary. Speedy!" he suddenly addressed the pikachu. "I need you to return to base and notify lieutenant Karmite of our capture."

"You got it Semp!" Speedy the Pikachu responded with a salute. Immediately after he turned tail, and in a burst of speed disappeared in the lush green canopy of the forest.

"And as for you," the scyther now identified as Semp growled at Kai "On your feet traitor its time to go."

"A _pretty please_ _Mr. Kai, God of all that is mighty and brave_ would better suffice," Kai responded being stubborn and difficult as he was to the end.

"I said MOVE!" Semp shouted jabbing a scythe in Kai's backside.

"Hey easy with those," he responded after climbing to his feet. "I'll have you know that I bruise easily."

"No more talking! Semp snapped jabbing Kai forward. "As a captured prisoner and former traitor to the Pokémon Resistance you lose the right to speech; but if you're so obliged as to open your mouth then I'll remove your tongue from the occasion."

"Such an angry young Pokémon," Kai responded pushing the limits of Semp's patience. "I think if you have a mate, say a female scyther then you wouldn't be so testy."

"Keep it up," clicked the unnamed ariados said."We'll see how much of a jokester you still are when you're standing face to face with Commander Tao."

Kai's blood suddenly turned ice cold.

"C-Co-Commander Tao," he stuttered as fear groped at his heart.

"That's right," Semp grinned happy to finally see the grovyle's confidence shook. "He's the head commander of our platoon fleet; and if the rumors are true from the story I've heard about you two, then this isn't going to be much of a pleasant reunion for you Kai."

Things were totally out of control now. As much as he hated calling for help, Kai knew now that he needed to notify the Black Corps, and soon before things got ugly. And you can better believe that when someone like Commander Tao and the history he and Kai shared was involved, things were about to get pretty hectic.


	10. Chapter 9: The traitor and the thief

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon **

"Hi-YAH!"

Apa'chee ducked quickly to avoid the flying bolt of Thunderblade's thundershock attack. Seconds later just as the electricity flew harmlessly overhead, charging his tail-hand with power, Apa'chee returned with a volley of golden stars, as the swift attack landed heavily against Thunderblade's body. The force of the attack pushed the raichu back several feet back, but with little less than a grunt of pain to show he'd been hit the raichu was as healthy as ever.

"Nice retaliation," Thunderblade called panting slightly. 'You're really getting good at reacting on the fly, and your swift attack has greatly increased in power."

"Thanks," Apa'chee said panting a bit more heavily, but none the less just as happy to receive praise from his teacher. They had been training non stop since the crack of dawn, but Apa'chee was very appreciative training since it took his mind off of the startling dream he'd had earlier that morning.

Deciding to take the offensive Apa'chee called on the power of his agility ability and began to zigzag circles around Thunderblade while subsequently charging power in his tail-hand for a big attack. Thunderblade stood his ground cautiously watching Apa'chee in anticipation for his next move.

Apa'chee suddenly broke off to the left and made a beeline straight for Thunderblade, who planted his feet firmly on the ground for leverage. Just as Apa'chee came within striking distance, Thunderblade made a last second split decision and lunged forward with a mega punch. Not missing a beat, Apa'chee flawlessly dodged the attacked by launching himself into the air directly above Thunderblade.

Focusing all his energy into one tight ball of power he took aim at the top of Thunderblade's head and unleashed the attack.

"Focus Punch!" he shouted triumphantly as he felt his tail-fist make contact with the top of Thunderblade's skull. The force from the attack pushed all of Thunderblade's and Apa'chee weight down forcing a small crater to viciously dent itself into the ground.

Apa'chee grinned widely, as he felt the power of his attack force Thunderblade farther down into the crater in devastating fashion. Everything seemed to be going his way up until the point when Thunderblade suddenly grabbed his tail.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" he shouted starting to wing Apa'chee up and over his head like a toy. "Never get this close to your opponent without considering the possibility of immediate retaliation." And with a loud shout Thunderblade swung down to viciously slam Apa'chee into the ground.

On contact with the ground all the air immediately rushed from Apa'chee's body, and he was left gasping for air as Thunderblade stood over with an electrified paw hovering dangerously inches away from his head.

"Do you submit?" he demanded as a few sparks of electricity flew biting at Apa'chee's fur.

Apa'chee merely nodded in defeat unable to utter a syllable let alone a full word after that bone crushing slam. Thunderblade eyed him for a brief moment, as if checking the validity of his surrender before extending a nonthreatening paw towards him with his usual lopsided goofy grin. Apa'chee graciously accepted the paw, as Thunderblade hauled him to his feet and then nodded approvingly.

"You're getting better and better everyday, Apa'chee," he complimented happily. "A few more intense training sessions like this, and you'll soon prove too much for me to handle in a full scale battle."

Apa'chee warily agreed with a nod of the head before he fell flat on his bum the next moment, suddenly feeling drained. One slightly nice perk at being in the possession of legendary Pokémon status power was the almost limitless amount of stamina it gave him. Since training with Thunderblade, Apa'chee was starting to get better at tapping into this vast amount when training, but almost always was immediately after exhausted the moment he stopped moving.

"Why don't we rest for awhile and break for lunch?" Thunderblade said stopping to stretch briefly.

"Yeah, I could really go for an oran berry right about now," Apa'chee huffed.

"Be back in a jiffy then," Thunderblade called to him as he headed for off for the small hole where he kept their supply sack.

Apa'chee rotated his arm slightly trying to relieve some of the stiffness. Boy, Thunderblade really didn't pull any punches during their battle sessions. His bones were aching greatly from the training, but the second Thunderblade came back with his Oran berry he'd be able to move around again good as new.

As soft as he could do it without further causing himself discomfort, Apa'chee settled down on his back and let his mind wander. He still had yet to tell Thunderblade his dream from this morning, and he wasn't all too sure if he wanted him knowing about it. It wasn't as if he didn't trust Thunderblade. No, besides the random spontaneous moments of trying to pummel him into the ground Thunderblade hadn't given Apa'chee any reason not to trust him.

Maybe it's a self conscience thing, he reasoned with himself. Things have been going great as of now, and I really don't want to ruin all of it with Thunderblade suddenly babying me and actually caring about my wellbeing. Heh, heh, Apa'chee couldn't help but to let a little chuckle pass by him at the thought of that. The day Thunderblade actually cared whether or not he was too rough on him was a hilarious afterthought indeed.

Apa'chee lay trying to relax as best as he could when he suddenly heard muttering from some where nearby. Glancing around he saw Thunderblade a distant away staring into the supply hole with a look of upmost bewilderment on his face.

"That's strange," Apa'chee overheard him muttering to himself.

"What seems to be the problem?" he called out.

"I'm not sure," Thunderblade said standing staring confused into the hole "but I could have sworn that the supplies sack was right here before we started training this morning."

Slightly alarmed and annoyed Apa'chee reluctantly climbed to his feet and joined Thunderblade at his side. As he'd said the supplies sack was indeed not inside of the hole.

"I'm thinking we had an unannounced visitor sometime last night," the raichu suddenly spoke confidently.

"How do you figure that?" Apa'chee asked. "I thought these training grounds were abandoned of any other life besides us."

"I'm not so sure about that," Thunderblade said suddenly pointing to something in the dirt a few feet away from them.

Apa'chee walked up to take a closer at what Thunderblade was pointing at, and blinked in surprised. Clearly seen embedded in the soft dirt of the ground were two footprints that Apa'chee could only describe as a pair of flippers. He wasn't exactly sure what surprised him more. The thought that there was actually someone else besides Thunderblade and him out here, or the fact that there was actually someone stupid enough to steal from Thunderblade's supply sack.

"Any ideas who it might've been?" Apa'chee asked.

"Well, whoever it was their not an enemy of ours, that much is clear. We'd have been already attack if that was the case, and besides that these footprints aren't of any Pokémon species that I can match that are aligned with the Magimon."

"So, what do you think we should do then?" Apa'chee asked.

"We're going to need that bag of supplies so it's best we tracked the trail to….," Thunderblade began before suddenly trailing off staring off to the side. "You've got to be kidding me," he said shaking his head with a small grin.

Before Apa'chee could ask what he was talking about he too noticed what had caught Thunderblade's attention. Directly in the opposite direction of the tracks that they were currently by was another set of flipper like footprints.

"Looks like our thief didn't want to be tracked down easily," Thunderblade observed grinning. "I've got to admit that was clever thinking on their part. Not considering how far the thief has already managed to get away there's no way we would be able to track both trails before it got to dark to see."

As he listened, Apa'chee himself had to admit that it was in fact a pretty clever idea. Whoever it was they were dealing with certainly wasn't some wet behind the ears amateur.

"What are we going to do about this then? he asked Thunderblade. "You said it yourself that we don't have the advantage of time on our paws to tracked both trails together."

Thunderblade scrunched his face up in what Apa'chee could only assume as deep concentration before a huge toothy grin broke across his face. Apa'chee flinched instinctually, as that grin of Thunderblade's was known to be a bad sign of horrible things to come, but what he said next surprised him.

"You're going to track this trail while I track the other one."

"What?" Apa'chee said his eyes widening in surprise.

"Think of it as an on the fly training assignment," Thunderblade said grinning widely. "Its simple really, we both tracked our respective trails and whoever finds the thief first can kick their butt and take the supplies sack back."

Apa'chee wasn't sure what to think of all this. It sounded fairly easy enough, but was he really ready enough battle wise to go out on the hunt of some possibly dangerous Pokémon? Thunderblade must have noticed the look of hesitation on his face because he suddenly patted him on the shoulder and grinned at him reassuringly.

"Have a little bit more faith in yourself, Apa'chee. I really doubt that with all the intense training you've been through that there's another Pokémon for miles that can stand up to you right about now. Besides aren't you even a little bit curious at possibly having the chance to see how much all this training has paid off for you?"

Hmm, that was worth checking at the least, Apa'chee reasoned with himself. He was a bit curious himself at meeting the Pokémon who had managed to sneak undetected into their small camp, and then made off with their supplies. And besides it probably was the perfect opportunity for him to test out his current skill level against a foreign opponent.

"You can count on me," he told Thunderblade with a confident smile.

"Now that's what I want to hear," Thunderblade responded with a small pat to his back. "Let's track that thief down and get back what's ours."

"You got it," Apa'chee said with a small salute.

(Scene Break)

What a day this is turning out to be, Kai droned in his head. Foiled by a pair of rookies, and now on my way to greet the old we hate Kai platoon of resistance soldiers. Yep, it's official; I am the most hated guy in the universe.

Things at the moment couldn't have been much worse for Kai. To put it bluntly he had stuck his foot into something that would most likely be the death of him.

"Sooooo… either one of you boys know where a guy could-"

"What did I say about talking!" snapped Semp cutting him off.

"I've got an idea now of why the Resistance considers you a traitor," clicked the ariados. "You seem to have a big issue with following orders."

If you only knew the half of it, Kai thought.

The trip to the Resistance base remained very tame as they traveled on foot, but this was probably only because Kai's mind was off in overdrive thinking of an escape plan. The webbed bonds were still securely restricting him from any arm movement, and so with it half his move arsenal flew out the window.

If I can't fight back, then I might as well record my surroundings, he reasoned. Who knows? Maybe when I finally manage to escape being more familiar with the area will help put me on a more level playing field with the opposition.

The small group walked on in silence for about twenty minutes before Kai began to notice the first signs of the forest beginning to thin out around them. As they continued on there were less and less clumps of trees, and Kai was actually able to see the shining light of the sun from above. Almost magically the lush green forest they had only moments ago been traveling through seemed to vanish as they stepped into a wide clearing.

The sight before Kai immediately filled him with dread.

Dozens upon dozens of brightly colored red and yellow tents lay pitched up in a wide arcing circle over a large grassy meadow. There were hundreds upon hundreds of Pokémon everywhere scuttling on their way to complete various tasks and help with camp repairs, but what filled Kai with the most sinking feeling of despair was the large flag that lay blowing in the wind. Adorned with the combined insignia of all the type elements was the mark of the Pokémon Resistance.

To say he didn't bring much attention to himself coming into the camp bound and trailed by guards was an understatement.

The moment Kai set foot in Resistance campsite there was an immediate halt of activity, as the multitude of Pokémon stood frozen in their spots, mouths agape in shock. Usually Kai loved all kinds of attention, positive attention that is. But as the excited buzz of whispering spread throughout the camp of the identity of their prisoner, Kai was wishing more than ever that he had Sasha's ability of teleportation right about now.

Kai was led into the center of the camp where the Resistance flag lay, and then basically put on display for the other members to gape in even more awe at.

"Yes, yes I know I am extremely famous and good looking," said Kai to the crowd "But please no autographs."

"Awk!" a terrifying cry unexpectantly echoed throughout the camp, "so the rumors are true then, welcome back, Kai."

Kai glanced around trying to locate the identity of the voice from the swarm of Pokémon, but they too seemed to be looking confused among themselves for the source.. Suddenly a loud cry sounded from the sky, and everyone threw their heads to the heavens to see a large object hurtling straight down towards them.

"Bomb!" Kai shrieked taking cover behind Semp and the ariados. He closed his eyes tightly waiting for the boom that would shake and tear the ground apart, but strangely enough it never came.

Taking a small peek from behind Semp's back his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of all the Pokémon kneeled down, bowing to a large black and white bird Pokémon. Taking note of the hat like hair he realized the Pokémon was a honchkrow.

"Lieutenant Karmite," Semp addressed the honchkrow falling into a bow as well.

"Up, up all of you!" the honchkrow squawked in what Kai assumed was a chuckle. "This is no time to be bowing when we've made such a big accomplishment today!"All the Pokémon eagerly rose to their feet, and various appendages as Karmite addressed them. "My fellow brethren, today is a huge stepping stone in the Resistances' war against the Magimon!" There was a huge roar from the crowd at this. "Today, while out scouting the perimeter three of our members in training were able to capture one of the Resistance's most wanted criminals. That criminal is standing here before us today, and he goes by the name of Kai the grovyle. By far the biggest traitor to ever come out of the Pokémon Resistance!"

There were immediate cries of outrage and shouts of curses thrown at Kai, as the members of the Resistance let known their distaste and displeasure of him.

What a gullible bunch of fools, he sighed shaking his head. The Resistance had really succeeded in brainwashing these poor souls into believing just about any piece of crap they spewed from their mouths.

"No introduction necessary Karmite," replied Kai doing his best imitation of bow. "With such the warm welcome everyone gave me when I arrived there wasn't a doubt in my mind that they didn't know whom I was. Unfortunately though I can't say I'm as impressed with meeting you as I'm sure you are at meeting me. For some reason I'd got it into my head that the second in command here would be a lot more impressive."

"Hah, hah you're as much of the wise cracking jokester as they said you were, Kai," Karmite commented with a distasteful frown.

"What can I say it's apart of my charm."

Karmite scowled at Kai's evident lack of respect for his position. As a leading force in the Resistance's ranks, Karmite commanded respect from all Pokémon who met him, no matter the age or allegiance. It didn't matter if Kai was aligned with the Magimon; at the very least the grovyle would fear him.

"You talk as if you don't have a care in the world Kai, considering the fact that you're a full blown traitor to the entire Pokémon race."

"Is that what the Resistance's been calling me, a traitor? How about something more fitting, like your royal savior or something along those lines?"

"The Resistance doesn't consider a Pokémon who sold them out to the Magimon for his own gain as a hero."

Unable to help himself Kai let out a small chuckle causing the Resistance members to look confused amongst themselves. What in the world did he find that was so funny? This also didn't sit well with Karmite. For the Kai to simply laugh off his accusation like it was nothing showed just how serious the grovyle took him.

Karmite's feathers were literally starting to get ruffled the wrong way from how the loyal members of the Resistance were looking from him to the laughing grovyle in poorly concealed anticipation. Nobody embarrassed Lieutenant Karmite. No one! If the grovyle wanted to act so all high and mighty around him, than he'd give him something to be afraid of.

"Humph, well charm your way out of this one Kai, because there's an old friend here just dying to see you again."

"Don't take it personally Karmite, but I tend to avoid old friends who have it out for me," said Kai. "And to be honest I've already had much of my fill with you."

Karmite forced a barking guffaw of laughter. There he was again humiliating him. Laugh it up grovyle, he thought. Let's see how long that bravado holds up with Tao.

"Back to work!" Karmite suddenly squawked to the crowd of soldiers causing them to scatter like flies. "I'll be taking the prisoner from here," he told Semp as he relieved them of Kai.

"Aw, now why'd you go and break the party up like that," Kai pouted. "I think everyone was actually eager to see how much longer you'd be able to last in a verbal confrontation with me before falling to pieces."

For this remark Karmite sent a swift jab to Kai's bound backside, as he ushered him onward through the camp. As Karmite pushed Kai on through camp he couldn't but help let a grin cross his beak. "The captain's waited a long time to see you again Kai. Let's just hope for your sake that the reunion doesn't turn out too tragic."

"And here I was hoping the old mutt had rolled over and died," muttered Kai as he was forced to move onward through the camp. Things definitely weren't going in his favor right now, and if he didn't figure some way out of this predicament soon he'd be toast.

Karmite led Kai away from the main section of the camp to a more secluded area that lay a few extra feet away from the main portion of the camp. As Kai looked ahead he could see them approaching a large red and blue tent with a large flaming paw print on the front flaps of the entrance. It was the Resistance insignia to signify the mark of a commander. Or more importantly it was the defining mark that signified the tent of Commander Tao.

It was all Kai could do to fight the sudden urge to bolt and take his chances with Karmite and the rest of the camp. Being in the presence of the camp was one thing, but having to come face to face with Tao again was a whole other ballgame.

Kai had hundreds of enemies who would kill at the chance to have another crack at him. Okay, lets be honest, he had **thousands** of enemies who would kill at the chance to have another crack at him. But if Kai was ever giving the opportunity to confess which of his many enemies he ever feared of being in the same vicinity of ever again, well then it had to be Commander Tao.

They suddenly entered the tent, and Kai was immediately greeted with a cool darkness. On first look the spacious tent seemed to empty except for a few loose twigs from a dead fire, but as Kai let his eyes roam around the tent on a second glance he suddenly caught the formation of a humanoid form in the darkness.

It was hard to make out through the darkness, but if you focused just hard enough the form of two large dog- like ears on either side of the beings head could be made out. A quick flash and several glints of something white and sharp shone through the darkness, and with what seemed as the sudden release of a long held breathe was the emerged of two spiked black forepaws followed moments later by another spike seen clearly embedded into the skin of a yellow furred chest. The rest of the body was emerged of the shadows showing off the appearance of a neatly groomed, blue and black furred, bipedal Pokémon known as Lucario.

The sharp blue eyes of Tao raked across the roughed up appearance of Kai who quickly averted his eyes at the sight of Tao. Without saying a word Tao gave a small incline of the head towards Karmite who with a hasty bow, and quick retreat took this as his sign to go. He was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get the chance to watch Kai squirm, but he supposed there was always the possibility that Tao would leave just enough of him left to kick around.

"So, my soldiers weren't mistaken then," Tao quietly spoke. "It really is you, Kai."

For once in his possibly short life Kai didn't have a scathing sarcastic remark as a reply. He was actually secretly hoping at the moment that if he stayed quietly as possible that Tao wouldn't incinerate him on the spot.

"Are my ears deceiving me?" Tao wondered aloud. "I never thought I would see the day when you would actually have nothing to say, Kai."

Remember, Kai thought fervently, one syllable and its toasted grovyle. He was going to keep silent at all cost if he could manage it. Tao had a huge score to settle with him, and he didn't want to make matters worse by fanning the already volcanic level flames.

He once joked to Paikus that pissing people off was a specialty of his. Sadly for him though he hadn't been lying when he'd said it. What he had done to Tao and the rest of the Resistance had probably saved the world that night. Unfortunately for him however, it had also got him blacklisted as one of the Resistance's most wanted criminals; second only to the Magimon leader Ooni.

Tao stood staring intently at him. His light blue traced a line over Kai's entire form, as they quietly surveyed him.

"I've thought many long sleepless nights of exactly what I would do if I ever saw you again, Kai," he spoke softly. "What you did to me was despicable. What you did to the Resistance was heinous. What you did to the entire Pokémon race that night is UNFORGIVABLE."

Kai winced at the harshness of Tao's voice. Although he was only silently speaking these words they were spoke with such contempt and anger Kai could only shy away at the force of it. In more ways than one Tao's talking could only best be described as the blowing of a cool breeze in the middle of a desert in the harsh blazing sun.

"I have to say Kai that you certainly pulled the wool over everyone's that night," Tao continued. "You came to the Resistance, the last of your kind, seeking to help put a stop the Magimon's scheming ways. You swore an oath that you wouldn't rest until every last one of the Magimon's forces was defeated, and peace restored back to the Pokémon world. You trained with us, ate with us, stayed with us, and then you betrayed us."

Kai was actually starting to become uncomfortable from all this talking. What was the point of this? Was Tao really trying to guilt trip on something he did on behalf on the Black Corps, and possibly saving the world from extermination at the same time? Well, no matter then. No matter how much Tao tried to make Kai out as the traitor to the entire Pokémon race he knew that he'd done the right thing.

"And now," Tao went on coming to stand directly in front of him "you return months later at mercy without even the decency to look me in the face." Kai suddenly felt a firm hand his chin as Tao forced his face up to meet his. "Still to this day I am simply baffled at what propelled you to betray us Kai, but I intend to find out."

Good luck, he mentally challenged readying himself for what was to come. Unlike what the Resistance may believe to be the truth Kai was no traitor, and he was willingly to take any punishment Tao was ready to dish out to prove it.

"I'm only going to ask you this once, Kai," his voice a deadly whisper as he spoke. "Where. Is. The. Egg?"


	11. Chapter 10: A hero's final stand

**A/N: This is the chapter I have been working up to since I started this story. Its taken a long time getting this far, and I'd just like to say thank you to everyone whose the story up to this point. Let me know what you think of it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

"I'm only going to ask you this once, Kai," Tao growled, his voice a deadly whisper as he spoke. "Where. Is. The. Egg?"

Kai knew anything but the truth would get him severely beaten by Tao. Probably beaten down even worse than any beating he's ever sustained before, but being the smart aleck the world's come to know him as he couldn't help resist saying.

"Would you believe a Staraptor ate it?"

Suddenly a force palm slammed heavily into his chest. He dropped to his knees in a coughing as pain racked his body. Boy that had really been a bad choice on his part. Was his mouth just incapable of answering a question without a response deemed sarcastic or antagonizing?

"Well I can't say I didn't deserve that," he coughed out.

"Neither would I," Tao said kneeling to his level. "That was your only warning shot, Kai. It was only because I knew you couldn't resist marking a snide remark that my attack didn't prove fatal." Suddenly Kai felt his throat enclosed in a tight grip by Tao's paw."The time for playing is over Kai, now talk!"

"Beating me to a bloody pulp won't help your cause much," Kai managed to choke out through Tao's grip. It was the only thing he could think of to respond with, and truth be told there wasn't much of anything he could do if Tao decided to continue beating him.

Tao studied him for a split second, his blue eyes twinkling slightly with a hesitant afterthought of indecision. Kai was mentally prepared for the beating to resume any moment now, but even he was surprised when Tao suddenly released.

"Yes, I suppose crushing you now would be counterproductive," he said. "Yes, very counterproductive indeed. We have much to talk about in the coming hour Kai, and I don't want you at anything less than in perfect health."

"You can rest easily tonight then Tao I didn't bargain the egg over to the Magimon if that's what you're thinking," Kai suddenly blurted before mentally cursing himself. Why'd he just say that? There was no reason that Tao needed to know even a shred of information of where or where not Apa'chee currently was.

"Oh, I've known that wasn't case for several months now," Tao replied calmly shocking Kai.

"Wha-, you-you know?" he said in disbelief. That wasn't possible. There was no way that he should know that at all. The night he stole Apa'chee's egg from the clutches of the Resistance he'd made sure that he'd left a huge cloud of disarray that he was going to deliver the egg to the Magimon. So how was it that Tao knew that he never had?

"Don't look so surprised, Kai," Tao told him "It really wasn't that hard to figure out after awhile. If you had really delivered the egg to the Magimon like you'd led everyone to believe then I dare say we'd all be dead by now."

Kai surprisingly found himself grudgingly agreeing with Tao. If he or in actual reality Paikus had in fact succeeded in delivering Apa'chee's egg to Ooni, then he had no delusions that half of the Pokémon race along with the humans would be exterminated by now.

On to more pressings matter however, Kai had to somehow get himself freed from his bonds. Unknown to Tao when Karmite had earlier drilled him in the back with his beak he'd unknowingly made a small tear in the tightly woven webs. With time he had slowly began to pull against the webs, widening the tear. Given a bit more time he would finally be able to free himself. When that was accomplished, only then could he execute his escape. For now though, it seemed he would have to entertain Tao's ego that he was helplessly at his mercy.

"So my old pal seeing as I'm an unwittingly participant to your interrogation what was it you wanted to talk about with little old me?"

Kai expected for Tao to roll his eyes or even hit him for the remark, but with a straight face he replied."Well, for starters there's the obvious of where's the egg?"

"Egg, egg, egg, egg, is that all you think about?" Kai asked him. "How about you ask me how I've been doing since the last time we crossed paths?"

"This isn't a social call Kai or even a reunion between two old friends. I have half a mind to kill you here now and relieve the Resistance of one of its deadliest enemies, but you're the last Pokémon to be seen with the egg of destiny and I need answers."  
_  
"Enemy_?" Kai gasped in exaggerated fashion. "Why, Tao I'm hurt. When I took the oath of a Resistance member I meant every word of it. Besides the small mishap with the egg I was nothing but loyal to the Resistance."

"Tell that to the hundreds of Pokémon who saw you flee into the night with the egg of destiny."

Kai gave an over exaggerated exasperated sigh, as he tugged at his bonds unknowingly to Tao."You Resistance folk can't seem to forgive and forget can you?"

"Enough stalling!" Tao suddenly barked causing Kai to jump. "I've had enough of your babbling Kai now unless you plan to start talking about what I want to hear then we go back to my original plan." He cracked his paws menacingly to add emphasis to the threat.

Crud not enough leverage yet! Kai cursed silently, furiously tugging at his bonds. I've got to say something to keep him occupied for just a few more minutes.

"Fine," Kai said lowering his head in assumed defeat. "You won't find the egg of destiny anywhere Tao it's not possible. The same night that I liberated it away from you and the Resistance it hatched."

Tao's eyes widened in shock. He took a frantic step backwards almost toppling himself over, and stared at Kai in disbelief."What! The eggs already hatched?"

"Yep," Kai responded, "And it's sad to say that the Resistance is a few months behind on this revelation. The Magimon knows the identity of the Pokémon that hatched from the egg and recently tracked me down in an attempt to take it away from me. If it wasn't for a hasty getaway on my part you could have already written us off for death by now."

"This... this is troubling news," Tao muttered to himself. "We weren't prepared for the egg to have hatched by now. There's already a good chance that the Pokémon's already been corrupted."

"Corrupted?" Kai scoffed. "This coming from one of the leaders of an organization that's been known to forces peaceful Pokémon into servitude."

"Every Pokémon here has willingly sworn the oath to help defeat the Magimon at any cause," Tao growled slightly.

"My memory must be fading Tao because correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it you who personally led a raid on a cluster of innocent Pokémon peacefully enjoying their lives? And what's more wasn't it _you_ who then order their homeland to be fired upon because you suspected them of harboring spies for the Magimon?"

Tao stepped away Kai, turning instead to pace around the tent. He was silent for several moments, choosing instead to just stare absentmindedly off into space. Kai knew he'd hit a nerve. The Resistance was notoriously known for their 'do whatever it takes' motto of handling situations that involved the Magimon, and several Pokémon had suffered greatly because of it.

"Sometimes you need to do what's for the greater good of the Pokémon race," Tao spoke finally. "The Pokémon who have sworn loyalty to us know this to be true. Besides, who's to say that the Pokémon we forced into servitude wouldn't have jump shipped to the Magimon the moment they were given an appealing offer?"

"Its comments like that that have me wondering how the Resistance should have even be surprised that I took the egg in the first place."

Tao glared defiantly at Kai. "You can voice all the opinions you want about our methods Kai, but the fact still remains that you're here at my mercy." He paused momentarily choosing his next words carefully. "And I've decided that I won't violently interrogate you until you're broken shell of a being. You've revealed to a startling piece of information that needs to be part immediately to the attention of my superiors."

"So where does that leave me?" asked Kai.

"For now you'll be put in the pits with the others."

"Others?" Kai asked.

"Why, all those would be innocent Pokémon you're so keen on constantly defending. Let's see how your beliefs stand up when you're sharing a pit cell with certified convicted captured members and spies of the Magimon."

Suddenly Kai felt a snap in the webs. He almost couldn't hide the surprise from his face. He was actually free! There was nothing no longer keeping him here in the clutches of Tao. He was just about ready to make his move when Tao stepped forward to close the distance between the two of them.

"When my superiors catch word of this I'm going to be order to viciously interrogate you until you've broken, Kai. Rest assured that in the upcoming days you're going to reveal everything to me. The identity of the Pokémon who hatched from the egg of destiny, it's current whereabouts, and the one I'm most curious to finding out, just who in the hell it is you're really working for and how they've managed to fly under our radar undetected this entire time?"

As Tao finished speaking Kai finally felt the webs easily snapped apart as pulled he pulled his arms away. He wasn't sticking around any longer and it was now or never to react. "Well, since you've got so many questions for me Tao then why not allow me to answer all of them for you in one phrase. SUCK MY LEAF BLADE!"

Kai exploded from the webs in a blast of razor leaves cutting Tao and slashing his tent to pieces. Completely taken off guard Tao held his harms up in an attempt to block the full barrage of the attack, but left him wide open for a second attack made by Kai.

A sudden gust of wind swept through the tent rippling throughout the air in an uncontrolled force of nature. Tao lowered his arms searching for the source of the disturbance and suddenly gasped in surprise. Standing before him surrounded by a glow of roaring green energy was Kai holding between his hands a large ball of green natural energy that Tao realized too late, was meant for him.

"It's been fun Tao, but I've got to go!" Kai shouted over the roar of the wind. Before Tao even retaliate in an attempt to block the attack, Kai lunged forward hurtling the energy ball attack straight for his midsection and he took the full brunt of the damage.

Outside, Karmite flew overhead the base ordering soldiers on to dig a large pit for the source of the large fire they were going to blaze in celebration of today's great accomplishment. The soldiers seemed in good spirits also, going about the work with large smiling faces and excited whispers of the upcoming feast of the night. Karmite had been in a bad mood all day since the public display of teasing made by Kai of him, but even he could stay grumpy with the positive vibe the soldiers were throwing around camp. He let a small smile grace his beak and let out a squawk of content, as he gave a sharp dip towards Commander Tao's tent.

Maybe I can over hear Commander Tao's interrogation of the grovyle, he thought eagerly spreading his wings to glide close by without being overheard himself. Commander Tao wouldn't take kindly to being spied on, and Karmite wanted to avoid being on the receiving end of the lucario's rage at all cost.  
As Karmite came within hearing coverage of Tao's tent, a sudden rumble of some unknown force could be felt pulsing from somewhere nearby. Before he could realize that the disturbance was in fact coming from Tao's tent a gigantic explosion of wind of razor leaves sent the honchkrow spiraling away through the air.

There was a sudden uproar of cries of shock and surprise around the camp as the soldiers were torn out of their happy stupors at the sight of their commander's tent exploding. Several Pokémon were thrown back from the massive backlash of the explosion, as the rest of them wobbled horribly trying to keep their balance from the tremors currently running through the ground.

"What is it!" one of the Pokémon, a golduck shouted as he pulled himself to his feet.

"I don't know," answered the Pokémon, a flygon, next to him. "But I think something's happened to the Commander."

While the two Pokémon lay caught up in the middle of their conversation neither seemed to notice the sudden flash of a fleeting green and red blur pass right between the both of them.

Kai fled the roaring commotion that was the Resistance base and made a beeline headed straight for the confinements of the forest. Tao was going to be pissed. Although he'd taken the full brunt of Kai's energy ball there wasn't a doubt in the grovyle's mind that the attack had merely incapacitated the Lucario for no more than a few minutes. When he came to there was going to be hell to pay, and Kai wasn't sticking around to see it.

The large green canopy of the forest rushed past Kai in a blur of images as he accelerated his speed with a burst of agility. He needed to get as far away from the base as possible, and put all the distance in the world between him and Tao's soldiers who were soon to follow. This had certainly been an eventful day for our resident grovyle, but things were about to get just a bit more dangerous before.

Kai bunched his legs together and shot up into the treetops above landing a branch and continuing on his way. For several minutes the only sight that greeted him was canopy of leaves and branches that he swept through without a second thought. Every second that ticked by put him farther and farther away from the Resistance base. Kai bounced off a branch and somersaulted through the air with a feeling of weightlessness as his feet connected with the next branch.

Being a grovyle Kai was a natural born climber. In the treetops was where he felt most at home and away from the dangers of the world that seemed to always plague him. As Kai came to a newer more wider section of the forest, a large split in the branches above him let shine in the glowing rays of the golden sun above. Kai paused momentarily to view the sight before him and let the sun's rays wash over him. Like most grass types' coming into contact with the sun was both a soothing and rejuvenating sensation. Already now, Kai could feel the bruises and cuts he'd sustained earlier begin to heal and fade away.

Kai looked back towards the direction he'd come from and realized that he'd put some marginal distance between him and Tao. The thought that he may actually get away scoff free lulled Kai into a sense of comfort that almost proved to be his downfall.

He sensed it almost a second too late, but it was just enough time for him to duck the blade that swung at his head like an executioner's sword. Thunk! The large blade embedded itself into the thick trunk of the tree where Kai's head had seconds ago just been. Kai jumped off of the branch to land to the forest floor below, and then turned up to look back at his adversary.

"Shrimp, was it?" he asked the scyther that stood glaring down at him from the tree.

"That's Semp!" shouted the scyther attempting to dislodge his scythe blade from the tree trunk.

"Yeah, sorry about that but I'm not very good at remembering names. Now would you mind explaining why you just tried to decapitate me or I'm likely to take it personal?"

Semp glared down at Kai before finally dislodging his blade from the tree followed by a cluster of splinters. "I'm here to kill you Kai so you no longer get in the way of my master's plans."

"Uh-huh," Kai said raising an imaginary eyebrow. "I don't take it it's Tao you're referring to master now is it?

"What, that pompous old fool," Semp snorted loudly. "He has no idea who I really am or that I'm secretly working for Ooni right under his overlarge snout."

"Yeah, that sounds like, Tao," Kai said. "He's so busy looking for Magimon spies hiding out upon innocent Pokémon that he never thought to realize one might be lurking right in the midst of his own camp."

"It's quite pathetic really," Semp said grinning slightly. "There I was, just one of the many spies Ooni has planted throughout Resistance bases across the region, and then you show up, Kai. You might not know this, but Ooni put a price on your head the very same night you managed to evade Paikus. There first Pokémon to kill you would take Paikus's place as my master's new right hand lieutenant, and enjoy the glory and fame that comes with it. Vendetta and Boulder failed to get rid of you Kai, but I'm here to tell you that I will succeed."

Kai eyed Semp taking into consideration all he'd just learned. It really didn't surprise him that Ooni would want his head on a platter also after he'd managed to take the egg of destiny. He was almost fairly certain that he'd be able to dispatch Semp easily enough, but there was the looming threat in the back of his mind that time wasn't something he could waste. If Semp had managed to track him down already, how soon before the rest of Resistance arrived on the scene? He'd have to make this quick and put the Scyther down. It was his only option.

"It's not that I don't believe you're going to kill me Semp, but a guy like me gets death threats on a daily basis. So I guess you're just going to have to show me," he said grinning, before falling into a battle stance.

An evil smirk curled at the corner of Semp's mouth as he readied his scythes. "Don't worry Kai, I planned to."

**(A/N: This is where I originally planned to end the chapter at, but hey I'm in a good mood so why make you wait?)**

Semp suddenly vanished in a blur of buzzing wings, and Kai immediately ducked down to just avoid the curving arc of a scythe going over his head. Kai quickly lashed out with his feet in retaliation, but Semp side stepped the attempt and caught him with a grazing cut from his scythes. Kai jumped to the side and took a few steps back glaring the scyther who grinned widely and clicked his scythes together for Kai to bring it on.

Kai scowled before taking a deep breathe and concentrating. He felt the energy inside of him began to bubbling up in a frenzy of a storm in the pit of his stomach before opening his mouth to release a torrent of bullet seeds that sent Semp back peddling to dodge. Kai followed up on the distraction and unleashed a barrage of razor leaves. Without batting an eye Semp stood his ground and then repelled them with carefully aimed strikes of his blades. Kai only gawk in surprise at the apparent ease Semp displayed in blocking his attack. He took it back now. Taking Semp out would not be as easy as he once thought.

Semp quickly dashed forward towards Kai before beginning to zigzag in and out of focus, a blur of images. Suddenly, Semp appeared in front of Kai and with a vicious snarl lunged forward with a thrust of his scythe. Calling on his agility at the last moment Kai was able to dodge Semp's first attempt thrust at a strike, and then quickly side stepped another to ram his slam into Semp's chest.

The scyther gave a grunt of pain from the blow before wildly lashing out in a furry of cuts. Kai immediately went on the defensive ducking and dodging out of the way just in the knick of time. He was so immersed in avoiding Semp's sharp blades that he forget that the scyther was in possession of other means of attacking him, and received a swift kick to the gut for his troubles.

Kai gave a stiff cough of pain before receiving a cut to his right shoulder followed shortly by six more. Semp cut him with reckless abandonment and a malicious precision. Kai stumbled away from the assault briefly to firing a blast of bullet seeds that was quickly halted by a backhanded slap of the blade from Semp.

I don't believe this, I'm actually getting beat! Kai thought as he flopped to a knee. Semp was upon him in seconds thrusting forward for Kai's chest. Not good, Kai thought as he pushed himself out of harms way. Semp was not to be denied however, he followed up with a feint and disappeared from before rematerializing to catch Kai with a slash to the chest.

A spit of blood squirted from the wound and Kai's eyes widened in surprise at the skill of Semp. Okay, he had greatly mistaken the scyther as a pushover that much was clear. How was it though however, that he was able to take every and anything Kai did to follow up with his own attack?

If I don't start fighting back like my life is really at stake then he very well may kill me, Kai realized with a jolt. At first as the battle went on Kai had this notion in his head that he could simply beat Semp into submission and avoid bloodshed. Those thoughts however, didn't seem to be the answer. If he didn't attack Semp with the same tenacity that he attacked him then he would lose this battle.

Filled with new resolve Kai brought his hands together and begin to charge power. He had tended to avoid using any of his grass type style attacks against Semp, as they'd mostly be useless against him, but Kai was desperate. Creating a mass of green physical energy in his hand, Kai then launched the energy ball towards Semp who immediately slashed the ball in half. Bad move. The attack imploded against Semp's scythe at the backlash from the blast sent Semp flying backwards.

Semp landed on his feet, but stumbled forward still reeling from the blast and Kai took advantage of this. Dashing forward his maximized his speed to its peek limit and with a show of pure agility only seen in bird Pokémon flew forward to strike Semp viciously with an aerial ace attack. The impact of the blow rattled Semp's bones, as he flew and crashed landed hard against the ground.

Kai lay gasping for air, as he watched Semp climb shakily back to his feet. The scyther was supporting several cuts and bruises now with an especially nasty large black and blue one where Kai had hit. That attack had been super effective against him, Kai knew this. He only wished that he could do it again and put Semp down for good, but Kai had an issue. The aerial ace was usually one attack he avoided from using because of the simple fact that after it his body cramped up. It was almost silly to think that one burst of running at top speed would put so much strain on his body, but the immense strain of exertion it put on his muscles was too much pain to bear.

"I can't keep this up much longer," Semp said to Kai breathing heavily. "I'll admit Kai that I didn't expect you to be this hard to kill, but I won't fail. This next attack of mines should be the one to finish you."

Red alarms screamed throughout his head, as he realized what attack Semp was most likely referring to. If he got hit by that there was no question, he'd be finished. Suddenly Semp's entire frame began to shake violently. Kai tried to turn and run, but dropped to his knees as his body locked up on him. Crud! This was just like the time when his body had failed him during his battle with Paikus. The only difference of course was that this time Apa'chee wouldn't be here to save him.

Kai watched in dismay as Semp's body began to radiant an immense pressure of power and strain on the ground, as he charged his attack. Kai was finished, there was no way he could move out of the way in time, and he didn't have an attack that could stand up to the power of Semp's.

Or was there.

A sudden glare of light find its way onto Kai's body, and he followed the source of the light up to the sky at a glowing red ball of fire that was the sun. Can I? he thought unsurely to himself. It was an attack he rarely used because of how defenseless it left him afterwards, but was there really another option? Noticing that Semp's attack was almost fully charged, Kai took the innovative and let the rays of the sun enveloped him. He felt the power from the sun rushed through his body and rapidly charge his own attack. He wouldn't be able to get a full charge off before Semp launched his own attack so he settled with what he had.

"This is it, Kai!" Semp shouted triumphantly. "Meet your demise, hyper beam!

A glare of red light covered the area in a glowing mass of light, as Semp's hyper beam flew across the clearing headed for Kai. It's now or never, Kai thought as he released his solar beam, a golden glow of orange light. The two attacks met head on in a collision of two cars and slammed against each other with tremendous force. The entire tree clearing became enveloped in a blinding light, as Kai and Semp were both thrown several yards away from the backlash of the blast.

Kai toppled through the air before landing heavily on the ground and then sent rolling down a steep slant of a drop in the ground. He tumbled downwards, his senses a mess of what was going on before finally stopping moments later at the bank of a lake. His body was fire on and his heart beat at a frantic pace to the point where he thought it'd explode from stress. Finally after several minutes of just listening to his own erratic he was able to calm down.

Kai shifted slightly bringing his hands to rest in front of him. His body felt like dead weight to him. He moved his head stiffly from side to side to make sure he hadn't broken his neck, then with a grunt of exertion he shakily climbed to his feet. The world around him immediately began to swoon and Kai kneeled down before the surface of the water to get his bearings back. Deciding to take a drink from the river Kai bent over and just dunked his entire head into the water. He stayed in that position for several minutes slurping the water loudly and noisily before plopping back on the bank feeling relieved.

He'd really needed that. Kai eyed his battered appearance in the waters surface with a bittersweet smile. He could picture Apa'chee's appalled expression at the sight of him perfectly. It was surprising really how such a young Pokémon could really be the one to save the world. Most of the time Apa'chee was just worried about Kai's on wellbeing when in reality he was the one Kai should be worried about.

With a loud grunt Kai painfully pulled himself to his feet. He stood shakily, but well enough for a light travel. He needed to find somewhere to camp out for the night out of sight. He didn't for a second believe Semp would just give up trying to kill him after all the trouble he'd gone through fighting with Kai. Wherever he was now he was probably licking his wounds in anticipation for his next crack at him.

In the distance the sun could be seen beginning to show the signs of evening. Its burning orange light from earlier was now a bit dimmer and mellow giving the sky a relaxed kind of feel. Kai sighed deeply and turned to leave before stopping in surprise. Something was wrong.

He looked down and his eyes widened in shock as he realized he had just been stabbed through the chest. Blood came gushing out of his chest at the same time he began to cough up blood. He was having trouble getting a single breathe out, and his vision was now beginning to become transparent.

"Show's over, Kai," Semp snarled in vicious in glee.

With as much care as one would have for their mortal enemy, Semp ripped his blade from out of Kai's body leaving a large gash on the grovyle's chest. Blood trickled from the corner of Kai's mouth as he could start to feel the multiple bodily functions of his body shut down. He couldn't believe it. He was dying; he was actually dying.

With a heave Semp pushed Kai backwards into the murky waters of lake and stood there watching as Kai began to sink. No! Kai thought disarray as the waters of lake began to close around him filling his lungs with water. He couldn't die like this, he just couldn't. What about his trainer, what about the black corps, what about Apa'chee? He couldn't just die here and leave them.

The darkness was calling for him, he could hear him. Kai desperately wanted to fight his way back up to the surface and escape, but the darkness just felt so soothing and peaceful. It lulled him into a comforting sleep one he felt he had seeking to have entire life. It was over, he was finished, but he hadn't failed. Apa'chee was safe and sound being trained by Thunderblade. His wouldn't end just because Kai's had, if anything it would make his resolve stronger to rid the world of the Magimon.

As the dark abyss of death began to swallow Kai up, the grovyle couldn't help but let one final grin grace his face. _An image of a young raven haired boy pleading fruitlessly with a small treeco to battle for him flashed through his mind. Moments later it was replaced with another image of the same treeco, but this time it seemed to be engaged in an intense argument between itself and a small eevee, as their trainer only look helplessly on in dismay. Finally a third image flashed through his mind from several months back, as the egg of destiny hatched before him to reveal a small bundle of purple fur. The little aipom stretch its tiny body and then awkwardly tried to climb onto its feet before noticing Kai. The young Pokémon had large innocent eyes and a curious expression, which Kai not knowing what else to do held his paw up in greeting and introduced himself._

As the last image of Kai's memories faded away the grovyle couldn't help but let one final thought pass through his mind. I wonder how I'm going to explain this one to, Arceus; he thought silently laughing before finally letting go.

Semp stood above the water watching as Kai disappeared into his watery grave. He'd done it. He'd done what no other Pokémon before him had managed to. It's time to spread the word, he thought grinning widely.

"Kai the grovyle is dead." 


End file.
